Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Call of the Dark
by Sir Manayaz
Summary: (II): After the events of last year, Scorpius is reluctant to return to Hogwarts. The Shadows may have lost the battle but they haven't given up the war. The Shadows are after him. Scorpius finds himself with an unlikely ally in his fight with against them as he seeks to save two missing boys on top of school. All the while though, the darkness is calling. COMPLETE
1. II: Visitors

_**Disclaimer: **I do not own Harry Potter, belongs to JK Rowling, just borrowing the characters_

_**Author's Note:** So here is book 2! If you haven't read book 1 then I highly recommend you do because otherwise this probably won't make a lot of sense. Sorry if it seems a bit slow to start _

* * *

_"Scorpius... Scorpius... Come to me..."_

It was August 5th. On that day twelve years ago at thirteen minutes past seven in the morning, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy had been born. Most children looked forward to their birthdays but Scorpius didn't. In fact he was dreading it, having to be the center of attention for a whole day was a nightmare rather than something exciting like it had been when he was younger. Really he'd prefer to stay in his room and be quiet and alone like he did most days, only coming out for meals or when his parents were feeling particularly determined to spend time with him. They couldn't think of much to say though, life wasn't particularly great for any of them at that point.

Lyra had been dead two years, Aurors continued to stalk them in case his father was also involved with the Shadows and Lucius Malfoy's death was like a fresh wound, a raw wound that hurt but nothing could make it heal because nothing could bring back the dead. Or rather his soul because his grandfather had received a fate worse than death when he'd sacrificed himself to save Scorpius, Calderon and Varanian two months ago. They had managed to save the school, destroy the Specters and stop the Shadow Master's plans but it didn't make everything okay. His grandfather was still gone. No one believed them about Varanian having been possessed and the former headmaster was still a wanted fugitive. And Scorpius still felt guilty, he didn't even deserve to call his friends 'friends' after he had been willing to sacrifice them to save the school. He was a horrible person not a hero, no matter what anyone said.

Scorpius saw no reason to celebrate the day of his birth, he didn't feel much like celebrating anything. He'd woken early from a nightmare he couldn't remember but lay awake for a long time, intending to have a lie in for as long as possible and go to bed as early as possible to lessen the amount of time that the focus was on him. It was his birthday and his parents weren't ones to drag him out of bed early anyway, unless there was something specific happening that he needed to be awake for. To his surprise though, his mother popped her head into the door just after ten.

"Wakey, wakey, Scorpius," Astoria Malfoy called knocking on the door, "you need to get up, birthday boy."

Scorpius groaned and buried his head in the pillow, maybe if he continued to be asleep then they'd decide to leave him to sleep? It didn't work as five minutes later she returned and five minutes after that, insisting he wake up and come downstairs.

"It's my birthday, can't I have a lie in?" Scorpius pleaded and he caught a glimpse of her brunette hair as she peeked into his room.

"No, you have a visitor," his mother pointed out.

"Aunt Daphne's started waking up before noon?"

"It's not Daph."

"Aurors want to question me?"

"No, its one of your friends from Hogwarts," she told him cheerfully and seemed to smile for the first time all summer.

"One of my friends?!" Scorpius repeated feeling his face draining of what little color it had, why would any of his friends be visiting him? Albus and Abby hadn't even had their memories recovered as far as he knew, Michael wouldn't be able to find where he lived as he was a mudblood and he was least closest to Rose. He'd been ignoring their letters all summer anyway, wasn't that a clue that they couldn't be friends anymore?

"Molly, a lovely girl."

"Molly Weasley is in my house?!" Scorpius exclaimed as he leaped out of bed, his mother looked at him curiously.

"Yes so try not to keep her waiting any longer."

Scorpius hurriedly nodded in understanding as his mother left him to get dressed. Molly was also his friend as well as his crush, from the way his heart had frantically started to beat she was still his crush. He mentally slapped himself and went to pull on some clothes, hesitating for the first time in his life as he tried to decide whether what he had chosen to wear would be good enough for Molly. He mentally slapped himself again, cursing his stupid brain as he pulled on the clothes, of course they'd be fine. They were neutral colors. You couldn't go wrong with neutral colors. Right? He slapped himself for real that time and was reminded of his left arm, the left wrist was scarred from his time with muggles but his sleeve hid that - and thankfully it hadn't started looking strange again - but more recently and obviously was the scar on his left palm. The arrow rune Tiwaz had been scarred into his palm for activating the Blood Rune magic when he'd saved the school, he was only just getting used to seeing it.

He made sure all his clothes looked neat in the mirror and combed his hair, trying to decide whether it would be nicer combed back rather than having bangs like he usually did. He thought it looked awful combed back and had it his usual way, although he thought he looked terrible anyway. His pale, pointed face probably made him look like a vampire and he had such dull gray eyes - the same color as his soul - which he was sure no one liked. He mentally slapped himself again, reminding himself that none of it mattered and he was being ridiculous as he went downstairs to find Molly. His heart was refusing to listen to brain when he tried to tell it to calm down, he'd stopped having a crush on her and it was being stupid.

His heart did a somersault when he saw her standing in one of the drawing room, laughing with his parents. The blood left his brain when he heard her musical laugh. Maybe it was because he hadn't seen her in two months but if possible she seemed to be even _more_ beautiful, she had a mane of curly fiery locks, a flawless freckleless face and blue eyes that were the color of the sky on a perfect day. _So maybe I still have a crush on her_, he admitted in his mind. She smiled when she saw him and came over to hug him, she smelled like cherries. She was wearing the charm bracelet he'd gotten her. He was smiling against his will when she pulled away.

"Happy Birthday, Scor!" Molly offered brightly.

"Thanks," Scorpius managed to say, noticing his palms were suddenly sweating. That was new, "so... what brings you to here? How's things with you?"

"Well you left Hogwarts so suddenly and without saying goodbye that I never got to give you back your broom, I don't know if you got any of my letters but I've been asking you all summer about returning it and you never replied. So I took no answer to my last letter as an you not having a problem with me showing up on your birthday to return it and give your birthday present in person," Molly explained and gestured to his_ Dart_ broom that his father was now holding, he was actually glad to have it back, his grandfather had gotten him that broom after all, "you'll be needing it soon enough anyway. For Quidditch, not flying all the way to London."

"Thanks," Scorpius repeated, "although I'm not sure if I'm going back to Hogwarts."

"Oh... well that's too bad," Molly said losing her smile and Scorpius realized they were just standing in the middle of the room, where were his manners?

"Yeah," his father agreed and Scorpius blinked in surprise, last year they'd practically begged him _not_ to go - he wished he'd listened to them - and now his father thought it was too bad he wasn't sure if he was going back? "but your Hogwarts letter arrived yesterday with your book list, we may as well get all your stuff in case you do go. Better than you waiting until the last second and everything having already been gone, Molly has kindly offered to allow us to accompany her and her family to Diagon Alley today. How does that sound?"

"Err... great!" Scorpius told them with a slightly forced smile, he didn't exactly want to be out in public but it would be rude to cancel when his parents seemed to have already agreed and Molly's feelings might be hurt if he refused. She beamed at his answer and his parents looked relieved.

In a surprisingly short amount of time they were on the way to Diagon Alley, Scorpius wondered if it was because his parents were afraid he would change his mind. His mother had initially been going as well but his father was reluctant to leave Narcissa Malfoy alone. She'd been a wreck since her husband's death, she didn't sleep, barely ate and socialized with the others even less than Scorpius did, she hadn't left the manor since the funeral. His mother volunteered to stay, saying his father could use some fresh air more than she did.

He was still afraid though, the Malfoys had been all over the paper since his grandfather's dead, the family secrets, slanderous lies about his grandfather and father, inaccurate tellings of Scorpius supposed heroics. They'd been pestered by reporters when he'd visited his favorite professor - Atticus Ashain - in St Mungo's and his father was always being dragged away for questioning after every single Shadow attack, unfairly they were assuming his father was involved like his grandfather had been before he'd died turning against the Shadow Master. A worrying thought dawned on him, Molly always read the papers, she had to know all the things they'd said but she wasn't treating him any differently than she normally did. Had she stopped reading the papers or something?

It was only when they Flooed over there to the Leaky Cauldron and it seemed to click in his memory that it was where Abby lived, her father was the Herbology professor and her mother was the Landlady of the Leaky Cauldron. It had to be mostly rebuilt after a Shadow attack on it the previous year, a lot of people had died but almost all the injured - including Abby's parents and younger brother - had been healed by Calderon. It was why it looked so different to what Scorpius remembered, it had a new, fresh, brighter look to it. It was nice and actually seemed more spacious then it had been before, Scorpius didn't know if they'd rebuilt it bigger or if the new layout just made better use of the space to make it seem bigger. It made him think of how angry Varanian - he'd been possessed at the time - had been, he'd accused his grandfather and father of being involved and given him the series of scars he had on the soles of his feet. He wondered if his grandfather had actually been involved after all, he had no idea how long his grandfather had been working with the Shadows before his death.

He was so distracted by his thoughts and the new look that it took him a moment to realize that everyone was looking at them, he backed up into his father who put a comforting hand on his shoulder and walked him forwards after Molly. Scorpius regretted coming immediately. He registered movement to his right just in time to be hugged, he tensed before the smiling blond backed off and he recognized his friend, Abby Longbottom. Her hair was tied back into a lone long braid as usual and was dressed in a floral skirt and pastel green blouse.

"Happy birthday, Scorpius," Abby offered brightly and he tried to smile in return, he wasn't sure if he'd managed it as the wave of guilt swept through him.

"Thanks. Does that mean you remember?" Scorpius wondered, half hoping she'd say no and that she was just being polite so he could leave.

"They couldn't completely reverse it but I do remember a lot more now, I can't remember Varanian's detentions for example but I remember us being friends. Rose got her full memory back from Varanian and sometimes she says things that Albus and I don't remember but most things we remember, I remembered your birthday, didn't I? I got you a present and card but I already sent them because I didn't know you'd be coming."

"I didn't know either."

"Its good to see you though, I was worried when you didn't reply to any of my letters. Oh and congratulations, Molly."

"Congratulations, Molly?" Scorpius repeated and glanced back curiously to the fourteen year old whose face was now as red as her hair.

"I'm the new Gryffindor Quidditch Captain," Molly admitted and Scorpius smiled in amazement.

"Congratulations indeed! That must be some kind of record, you're only going into fourth year."

"I'm the youngest Quidditch Captain in over two hundred years."

"I'm sure you'll do great," Scorpius told her confidently and truthfully, Molly was very dedicated to the game.

"I doubt it, we've not only lost the seventh years who graduated but the sixth years who are now seventh years will all be in Beauxbatons for the Triwizard tournament this year. _All_ our Chasers and a lot of our reserves are gone, the better ones especially and I'm losing our star Seeker if you don't return. James isn't bad but you could fly circles around him in your sleep, plus then I'm losing a Beater too. No other house is losing so many players and - I'm sorry, I'm just babbling again," Molly stopped herself and laughed nervously as she scratched her head, Scorpius continued to smile, "I do that."

"I know."

"Ah! Molly there you are, dear," a newcomer said bustling over to them, she was an elderly woman, short and plump with graying red hair. She had a kindly face and was smiling, it wavered slightly as she saw him but remained in place, "and you must be Scorpius?"

"Yes," Scorpius agreed hesitantly.

"I'm Molly Weasley."

"My grandmother," Molly added before he had time to feel confused, "after whom I was named, Molly after dad's mum and Mavis after mum's mum."

"Its a pleasure to meet you, Mrs Weasley," Scorpius offered politely with a slightly forced smile, "I'm Scorpius Malfoy."

"I know, dear," Mrs Weasley - its was politer and less confusing to think of her as that than as Molly - pointed out and Scorpius looked at the ground nervously, "I've heard a lot about you, its nice to finally meet you... I want to thank you, for saving my grandchildren's lives."

"What?" Scorpius questioned and glanced up, she looked genuinely grateful. He wondered if she realized two of them had nearly been sacrificed, did anyone realize that? Would people stop acting like he'd done a good thing? "it was nothing, you don't need to thank me."

"Is Aurelius here yet?" Dominique - 'Dom' for short - Weasley asked as she joined them, Rose, Molly's little sister Lucy and her maternal uncle Professor Aubrey Rivers, "oh hey, Scorpius, happy birthday. Is Aurelius here yet?"

"Would you stop talking about Aurelius? Every other word out of your mouth is Aurelius, how interesting can one sixty year old be?" Rose complained rolling her eyes as she pushed past her cousin to get to Scorpius, smiling when she saw him and pulling him into a hug. He blinked in surprise, even _before_ she'd lost her memory she hadn't seemed too fond of him. Why was everyone so happy to see him? He had nearly _killed_ them, didn't they know that? "happy birthday, Scorpius."

"Thanks," Scorpius managed as she pulled away.

"Aurelius is sixty-one actually, he just had his birthday at the end of July," Dom said defensively although Rose and Mrs Weasley didn't look pleased, "and Aurelius is the most interesting person I know. And I was only asking if he was here yet. I'm trying to help him get over his fear of being attacked whenever he leaves his home, he might not have been able to work up the courage to come at all. Its not easy for him."

"Do we have to wait much longer?" Lucy wailed, the eleven year old was probably eager to get her things for her first year at Hogwarts. She'd inherited the Weasley red hair but it was wavy like her mother's had been rather than curly like Molly and her dad, she had freckles but muddy brown eyes also like her mother, "purebloods shouldn't have to wait for anyone."

"Yes, that's right," Rivers nodded in agreement and looked proud despite the glares the Weasleys gave him, he was forty with wavy muddy brown and eyes to match. Scorpius wondered why he was even there, no one was particularly fond of him - with the exception of his niece, Lucy - and even his twin sister hadn't had the best relationship with him, Audrey Weasley had died a few months before so it surprised him that Rivers was hanging around with a random assortment of Weasleys in the first place, "its bad enough that stupid assistant hasn't sent you your Hogwarts letter yet, just because Aurors are pestering him to teach them how to fight the Specters and to learn to do a Patronus to communicate is no excuse, he remembered everyone else's letters including the new first years, stupid idiot."

"Don't call Calderon stupid or an idiot," Scorpius said defensively before he realized it, Rivers looked puzzled.

"But he _is_ stupid, its not my fault he's a lunatic lacking intelligence."

"He's here!" Dom exclaimed before Scorpius could snap a reply to that, it was the most excited he'd ever heard the sixteen year old, and moved past them to get to Aurelius Ashain as he emerged from the fireplace, clutching his spirally wand protectively and looking around fearfully at the patrons although he gave the redhead a strained smile when he saw her.

Aurelius didn't look anywhere near his age, his could easily pass for his son's brother rather than his father. He had a full head of extremely dark auburn hair that was almost shoulder length and chestnut brown eyes, his clothes were very expensive looking but were mismatched colors. Scorpius didn't think he could have picked more contrasting colors if he'd tried, he was friendly enough but undeniably odd. Scorpius hadn't seen him since the professor had woken up, he hadn't wanted to see his son.

Introductions were quickly made and they headed off - minus Abby who had just been greeting them, she was getting her school stuff later with her older siblings - into Diagon Alley. They were an odd group, Mrs Weasley, Rivers and Lucy were in the front, Lucy was babbling excitedly about how much she was looking forwards to going to Hogwarts and Rivers also seemed to share her enthusiasm even though he wouldn't get to teach her - he taught the elective Arithimancy - while Mrs Weasley nodded occasionally and led the way. Dom, Aurelius and his father trailed behind them, his father just trying to keep to the back and not speak to anyone while Dom and Aurelius happily chatted away about NEWT level Defense Against the Dark Arts. Almost happily anyway, Aurelius leaped a foot in the air every time someone passed or a door opened or anything else normal that freaked him out. Scorpius wasn't quite sure why the paranoia but he'd been like that in the hospital and Hogwarts too.

Scorpius was in the middle of them with Molly and Rose either side of him, talking to him about their holidays, which hadn't been great apparently. Rose's parents and Molly's dad were all busy with work and they hardly saw them, it was why Rose was getting her things with her grandmother rather than her parents. Rivers had also been - surprisingly - helping out a lot since his sister's death, watching them and taking care of them while her dad worked. Two family friends of theirs were missing too which was upsetting, twin boys Lorcan and Lysander Scamander who'd gone missing two weeks before their tenth birthday at the beginning of May. Rose looked like kicking herself when it slipped out and hurriedly changed the subject to the sole good event of the holidays, the wedding of her - sort of - Aunt Gabrielle Delacour and the Assistant Deputy Head Auror Celestine 'Cel' Rooke. There'd been no Shadow attacks and nothing to detract anyone from the event, it was time either girl had spent with their parents all summer. He just tried to stare at the ground, both to avoid looking at Rose to lessen his guilt - along with the fact her reaction seemed to prove she'd read the papers about his past - and so he wouldn't be able to see if people were staring at him.

His attention dwindled when Dom and Aurelius' conversation got more interesting, Aurelius was complaining about his Father's creepy friends swapping artifacts. It reminded him of his grandfather's interaction with Corvinus Ashain, making an Unbreakable Vow and getting an Orb, he still wasn't a hundred percent sure whether it was the same Orb the Shadows had used but he had a strong feeling it was, especially as Aurelius had mentioned his father having it back and the Shadows had taken it away as they had had to use the original Orb to activate the Blood Runes to destroy the Specters. Was Corvinus Ashain involved with the Shadows? Or was he just a pawn used for the Orb? Were they planning something else? Did the Aurors know any of that? Why weren't they pestering him instead of Scorpius' family? Why neglect their children to waste time hunting an innocent man when there were better leads?

"It doesn't work for muggles either, Jack," another familiar was saying and Scorpius' head jerked up to look around for a wild tangled mass of light auburn brown hair that belonged to the voice.

"Well don't you think they should invent a way to make muggles into magical folk? They'd make a fortune!" a man's voice said in reply, loud enough for Scorpius to be able to spot his friend and Rose either heard him too or followed his gaze because a second later she'd veered off towards the pair, calling Michael's name.

"Can I go home now?"

Michael didn't look pleased to see them though, he looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up as the group followed after Rose. He looked different than when Scorpius had last seen him, Michael had always been short and scrawny but he looked so thin it was unhealthy. His face was gaunt and his hazel eyes heavily bagged with tiredness, one of his eyes was so badly bruised it barely opened, his lip was split and he had a cast on his left wrist. In comparison his companion was the picture of health, a tall muscular man with sea-blue eyes and short - but unruly - dark brown hair.

"What happened to you?" Rose wondered blinking in surprise.

"I fell down the stairs," Michael answered quickly with a hurried smile, "those stairs are steep, aren't they Jack?"

"How am I supposed to know? I don't live there," the man - presumably Jack - grumbled folding his arms and studying the group, he was dressed in muggle clothes, tatty jeans and a leather jacket.

"You were there less than an hour ago when you picked me up."

"Mikey, its too early in the morning to pay attention to the steepness of stairs even if I wasn't still slightly hungover."

"Just say yes. And its Michael."

"Yes then, _Michael. _You're such a stick in the mud, have I ever told you that?"

"You've been telling me that my whole life. Jack, these are my friends, Rose and Scorpius, that I told you about," Michael explained with a sigh as he gestured to the pair of them which made Jack laugh heartily, "what?"

"I thought you were just making up having friends," Jack explain and clapped Michael on the back, "well done, Mikey, you're not a complete loser after all."

"Michael."

"Its about time you had some friends now you're twelve."

"I'm eleven, its not my birthday until the last day of August."

"Don't I get points for being close?" Jack questioned and Michael pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation while Jack turned to them to introduce himself, clapping his hands together enthusiastically, "I'm Jack Thorne, with an 'e', the one and only. I'm Mikey's dad in case you didn't know because he never calls me that and the family resemblance isn't obvious. So who wants to be rich beyond their wildest dreams?"


	2. II: Diagon Alley

"I already am," Aurelius pointed out.

"Not with your money, with actual real money," Jack said excitedly.

"What in Merlin's name would we want with muggle money?" Rivers wondered disinterestedly.

"So you can buy stuff, obviously, even wizards must want things like a mansion with a massive TV the size of the wall, clap on lights, a jacuzzi, an indoor pool, servants to wait on you hand and foot, I prefer motorcycles but you could have super fast cars like Ferrari's, a private plane to take you to every exotic country on the map and Las Vegas, you can buy your way out of any trouble you get into with the law, all the booze and smokes that money can buy, you never have to work again and can just party all night. And best of all, the chicks will be all over you and they won't even care if you cheat because you're that rich and can do whatever you want," Jack explained, none of them shared his enthusiasm, "you could have it all, I'll split any of the money with you fifty:fifty. Well maybe not fifty, I mean I'm the brains behind it all, who'd do the planning and all you have to do it wave those little sticks around so maybe a twenty:eighty split would be fairer."

"Jack!" Michael protested as he shot his father a dark look.

"Alright fine, thirty:seventy."

"Jack!"

"Forty:sixty is too unfair, no higher than thirty-five:sixty-five but then we're robbing more than one bank because I don't know if that's enough to be a gazillionaire and pay off my debt before they break my legs."

"You've been out of jail for less than a month, could you at least try not get thrown back in?" Michael said pleadingly looking upset.

"Why were you in jail?" Mrs Weasley asked disapprovingly.

"This time? Got into a fight with some guy who looked at me funny in a bar. Sure showed him that when you mess with this bull, you get the thorns," Jack announced sounding strangely proud while Michael just sighed sadly and studied his feet.

"Hey everyone! Happy birthday, Scorpius," Albus Potter's voice called cheerfully and their attention was drawn to his approaching friend with four people in tow, Scorpius was _again_ pulled into a hug and Albus was smiling when he pulled away before he noticed Michael and looked concerned, "what happened to you?"

"Fell down the stairs," Michael answered quickly.

"You didn't mention that in your letters."

"I didn't think even you were dumb enough to fall down stairs, Dragon-breath," James Potter offered with a smirk, clearly still a bully.

"James, be nice," the red-haired woman with them - Scorpius assumed it was their mother - scolded him immediately. The other two children were strangers, the little girl looked like the younger and was probably the Potter boys' younger sister, Lily. Her hair was as red as her mother's and as unruly as her brothers', she was the only one of the Potter children to have glasses despite having her mother's brown eyes. The nervous-looking boy however he didn't know, although his eyes were green but he bore no obvious resemblance to the Potters or Weasleys.

"Why 'dragon-breath'?" Jack wondered curiously.

"Because last year he learned to breath fire," James told him cheerfully.

"Awesome."

"It wasn't awesome for me," Michael pointed out quietly, "and I didn't mention it because its not important, I'll be fine by the time train leaves for Hogwarts. So it was nice to meet you all, people I don't know, and good to see you, my friends, and I'll see you on September 1st... but we should be going now."

"What? But we only just got here and we haven't even gotten any of your school stuff yet."

"You should come around with us all!" Albus offered brightly.

"I wouldn't want to impose," Michael mumbled awkwardly.

"It's quite alright, dear," Mrs Weasley said gently, seeming to take sympathy on him, "the more the merrier."

Michael still seemed reluctant but agreed to it nonetheless, there was mixed reactions from the group. Jack, Albus and Rose seemed delighted while Aurelius, Rivers, James, Lucy and his father seemed dismayed and the others didn't give enough of a reaction for Scorpius to tell. Introductions were made, the girl was indeed little Lily and the woman was indeed Mrs Ginny Potter. The strange boy was introduced as Vern Dursley, Albus' cousin on his father's side and had - much to everyone's astonishment - received a letter that year accepting him into Hogwarts. Vern looked upset rather than pleased by this, Scorpius didn't blame him as James, Lily and even Albus weren't exactly friendly towards him.

"I can't believe you're a wizard. You better not be in Gryffindor," James commented to Vern as they continued walking again to get the books, Mrs Potter was too busy being given Jack's offer for a bank robbing partner, "the house name's already tainted enough by Death Eater children and scum who defend them without a Dursley in the mix too."

"It's not my fault that the hat put me in the wrong house," Scorpius protested but he was ignored, except by Molly who mouthed something that looked like 'still?'

"I'll try not to be," Vern muttered quietly, "I tried not get into Hogwarts at all, I thought if I kept the things I could do a secret then no one would notice. I don't want to be a wizard."

"Why not? Magic's the coolest thing ever," Lucy pointed out excitedly as her whole face lit up, "I can't wait to do magic and learn spells and make potions and fly on broomsticks and everything, its going to be so awesome."

"All the witches and wizards I know are mean to me," Vern explained and gave his cousins a sad look, he spoke so quietly it was hard to hear, "grandma said if grandpa was still alive then he'd be ashamed that I have his name."

"Not all witches and wizards are mean," Michael offered and smile kindly - or at least he tried to, his split lip made him look slightly demented and Scorpius realized he was missing a tooth - to Vern, "it can be scary going into a whole other world by yourself but all the other first years are in the same place as you, I'm sure you'll make some friends regardless of what your cousin says. And if you need anything, I'll be happy to help."

"Thanks," Vern said, still barely audibly but he had a weak smile.

"You're such a loser, Dragon-breath," James told him with a roll of his eyes.

"I'd rather be a loser than a bully like you," Michael retorted and James' eyes narrowed darkly, his hand twitched as if going for his wand before remembering he couldn't do magic outside of Hogwarts and he didn't seem able to think of a comeback for this as he just moved forwards and complained to his mum about wanting to go home or hang out with his own friends.

The conversation became more pleasant with James gone, talking about Hogwarts with the younger ones and Albus talking about his holidays which wasn't much better than Rose and Molly, except his mum worked from home so he'd at least had one parent around. He'd also developed a crush on a neighbor but had 'fallen in love' with some French girl that he didn't know the name of at his Aunt Gabrielle's wedding, Scorpius tried very hard not to look at Molly during that point and his palms went sweaty again. Michael didn't say as much about his summer, he mentioned having a new baby sister - well half-sister as it was his mum and stepdad's youngest daughter - and explained his dad had come around looking for money a few days ago after he got out of jail and had finally found out his son was a wizard. Since then Jack had been fascinated, paying Michael more attention than he ever had and had eagerly volunteered to take him to get his Hogwarts things when he'd gotten his letter. Scorpius didn't say much about his summer either, although he mentioned Professor Ashain waking up but not too much in case Aurelius was listening and it felt rather odd to be talking about the man's son when he was right behind them, even if he and Dom were still engaged in conversation together and didn't appear to be listening.

The passing of a shop selling broomsticks prompted them to start talking about Quidditch, Molly was nervous about failing her responsibilities as Captain and Gryffindor not having much chance with so many players missing but Albus was excited at the prospect of being able to try out. Apparently he, Abby and even Rose were planning on trying out already and he suggested Michael did too because he wasn't a bad flier good except at landing and not crashing into walls. Lucy announced she was trying out too, for the experience even though she didn't expect to succeed as her mother hadn't let her ride a broomstick before, Vern said he might be in the stands to support them and Lily wistfully declared she wished she was going to Hogwarts already.

Scorpius actually found himself - _almost_ - enjoying himself, he hadn't realized how much he'd missed his friends until he was talking to them again, talking about such normal things as if he hadn't almost killed them. He'd forget for a minute and be enjoying himself then he'd remember and feel crushed by guilt again. Vern, Lucy and Lily were alright company too while the adults - along with James and Dom - walked either behind or in front and talked amongst themselves or just in silence which he was glad for because he didn't like Rivers or Jack.

They went to Gringotts first to get money, Aurelius stupidly offered to pay for anything if anyone wanted which James, Jack, Lucy, Lily and Rivers both seemed to take as a free pass for free stuff and shamelessly took advantage of him for overly expensive things and extras. Mrs Potter kept putting her foot down and saying James - and to a lesser extent Lily - wasn't allowed certain things, much to his chagrin as Aurelius would abide by her will for her son and as much as Molly would tell Lucy not to ask for so many things, her sister listened to Rivers over her. Molly, Mrs Weasley, Mrs Potter, Michael, Vern, Scorpius and his father all refused to buy anything that wasn't on their own coin while Dom, Rose and Albus asked for the occasional thing that was normally too expensive but not ridiculously so. The only exception was at Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions where Dom seemed determined to buy herself a new wardrobe, no matter the cost or how long they took. Scorpius did have to be careful, if he so much as looked at anything he'd have five people offering to buy it for him for his birthday.

Scorpius still found himself enjoying himself - for the most part at least, it was easy to forget his guilt in the busying bustle - and his father seemed to be making a real effort to get along with people he'd once considered enemies for Scorpius' sake, he really appreciated that. Mrs Weasley and Mrs Potter were nice enough, Rivers and Jack were annoying but were more interesting in bothering other people than him, Dom and Aurelius mostly talked amongst themselves as did Lucy and Lily but when they did talk to them they were alright, James kept trying to pester Vern but Michael unwaveringly came to his defense and James eventually quit when Molly threatened to ban him from the team if he didn't be nice.

They even managed to stop at the Ice Cream Parlor for a break between shops and had the semblance of getting along - although Jack had started making very unappreciated passes at Mrs Potter who started telling him about her husband and Rivers was boring James to tears as he lectured him about his 'poor' decision not to take the 'important' subject of Arithimancy. It was so... normal though, Scorpius liked that. It was only after they left the Ice Cream Parlor that Aurelius suddenly shivered violently despite the blazing sunlight.

"Is... Is anyone else cold?" Aurelius asked uncertainly.

"Are you kidding? Its like a hundred degrees," Jack complained and the others muttered in agreement as they carried on for their final three stops needed.

Despite Molly's insistence on the brilliance of owls, both Lucy and Vern chose cats as their companions in Hogwarts before they moved onto their books, dividing to find what was on their lists - except Lucy and Vern, they'd just been getting Lucy everything on Vern's list as hers hadn't arrived - to save time as it was getting later. Molly appeared beside him as he was getting the last book on his list.

"Enjoying your birthday?" Molly inquired nervously.

"Yes," Scorpius admitted as it was - aside from the guilt anyway - and she looked relieved.

"I'm glad."

"Any particular reason why?"

"Well..." she began and bit her lip nervously, "I kinda tried to get Albus and Rose and Abby - although Abby couldn't come, has to help out at the Leaky Cauldron and Michael was an accident - to get their stuff today so you could see each other, they wanted to see you and even though you've been ignoring everyone all summer I thought you might want to see them. I mean... I lost my mother, I kind of know what you're going through. I didn't really want to see anyone or do anything after it either but interacting with my family and going back to school... it helped to do normal things again and take my mind of it, I thought it might help you too but then I worried that it might not and I had just dragged you out into public too soon. Figured you'd either love me or hate me for it."

"I could never hate you," Scorpius told her quickly and smiled nervously, not wanting to talk about his guilt but Molly didn't seem to notice as she returned his smile and hugged him again. If beautiful had a smell then it would be cherries.

They left the bookshop and only had Lucy and Vern's wands to get. Due to the number of people, the size of the shop and the heat from the sun - although Aurelius still insisted on feeling cold - they decided to wait outside as Mrs Potter took Vern in to get his wand, Jack following out of curiosity about wands choosing the wizard. Scorpius was so focused on watching them go in that he hadn't noticed Michael until the boy spoke at his elbow.

"Hey Scorpius," Michael offered and Scorpius almost did a startled jump worthy of the jittery Aurelius, "um... I don't know if I said this yet but Happy Birthday."

"Thanks," Scorpius said.

"I erm... well I don't have a lot of money, well any money really so I couldn't exactly get you a nice present and there was no way I was asking poor Aurelius to buy something for me, I hope he could afford it all because its not easy having no money but erm... I... I made you this," Michael explained nervously and started tying something around his left wrist, "its a... its a friendship bracelet. I know its kinda childish but you were the first friend I ever really had and after we went through and... and I always wanted to do that and um... you don't have to wear it if you want but I just erm... I'm sorry its not something cooler or better made, happy birthday."

"No, its great, I've never had a friendship bracelet before," Scorpius told him with a smile, managing to keep it in place even as he felt another wave of guilt and went to pat Michael on the shoulder. Michael flinched so violently he actually fell over and Scorpius worriedly helped him to his feet, "are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Michael brushed it off and grinned hurriedly, "are you?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Scorpius said looking over to Ollivander's, "feels like forever since I got my wand, hard to believe its just a year, feel incomplete without it. Father had to pay a small fortune to have it specially made because none of the wands in the shop liked me. How'd it go to get yours?"

"Took ages, I thought Calderon had made a mistake and I wasn't a wizard after all because the wands didn't like me. He started trying old wands that his ancestor's had made because he had a 'feeling' about me, my wand was made in the middle ages by Geraint Ollivander. An usual combination apparently, Dittany Stalk core and Cypress wood, fifteen inches was an odd length for a short ten-year-old too. I didn't think it would like me either but it flew into my hand and glowed, there was white light and he said 'perfect.' We're like opposites, yours is so new and mine is so old."

It didn't actually take too long for Vern to come out and it was Lucy's turn, Mrs Weasley, Molly and Rivers went in with her and Jack remained with Mrs Potter, leaning in extremely close to her to whisper in her ear. Vern came over to tell them about getting his wand.

"I was lucky to get a wand," Vern began looking almost afraid, "Mr Ollivander said he almost didn't open today because someone broke in and stole several of his wands. I didn't know wizards had burglars too. Did you? Why would someone steal wands if they choose the wizard?"

Before they could reply, their attention was drawn by Jack being flung backwards though the air, bouncing painfully down into a side street that led to Knockturn Alley. From the livid expression on her face and the fact her wand was out, aimed in the direction that Jack had been, Mrs Potter seemed to have been the one to have propelled him backwards. Michael looked hurt and either didn't know or didn't care about the shady nature of Knockturn Alley as he bolted after his dad with Vern following, Scorpius was about to go after him when he was distracted again by Rivers storming out of Ollivander's looking as angry as Mrs Potter. Mrs Weasley and his nieces hurried after, Lucy had tears streaming down her face.

"Wait! Uncle Aubrey, wait!" Lucy cried.

"I'M NO UNCLE TO YOU, YOU FILTHY SQUIB! YOU MAKE ME SICK!" Rivers roared turning back to her, looking at her loathingly before he disapparated in an exceptionally loud bang.

"I had a brother who was a squib once..." Aurelius said sadly as Lucy ran away sobbing in a random direction, Molly and Mrs Potter went after her, the latter yelling back something about staying with the children and Scorpius decided to get Michael and Jack quickly, "why is it so cold - _Protego!_"

Scorpius barely had time to register Aurelius' shout before a shield of light appeared to his right, just in time to defend him from a crimson burst of light. The silver shield was obliterated by the curse and Scorpius was nearly knocked off his feet from the resulting shockwave but unharmed, he glanced in the direction of where the spell had come from and saw a stranger with pitch black eyes as the culprit. Suddenly the majority of people in the street had pitch black eyes and every last pair was looking at him.

The others seemed to realize this too, his father's eyes bulged fearfully and he started to run towards Scorpius only for one of the possessed to shot a jet of magic at him. Dom yanked his father back just in time to stop him running into the path of the spell, instead it collided explosively with the ground. Lily screamed. Displaced cobbles were thrown into the air, along with bits of cement and dirt, Scorpius raised his arm to protect his head and saw a crater left in the ground.

"Apparate as many as you can to safety and get help!" Dom yelled, realizing the danger and lack of Calderon to banish them. Mrs Weasley was the fastest to react and grabbed the youngest, managed to squeeze Rose in with Albus and Lily in the crook of her arm before she disapparated. Aurelius grabbed Dom and James' arms but out of the corner of his eye, Scorpius saw one of the possessed snap their fingers and no one else disapparated.

"Sorry but we can't have reinforcements coming now, can we? Side effect of course is that you can't apparate either," the possessed-man who'd snapped his fingers and caused the crater, someone else fired a curse at Scorpius and he jumped back to avoid it even as Aurelius cast another Shield Charm to protect him and both Dom and his father got their wands out as the latter scrambled to his feet. James was just looking around fearfully, "we're only after Scorpius, we won't hurt you if you don't try to stop us."

No one said anything and for a second Scorpius thought they were just sacrificing him, even his father. The possessed-man and several of the others threw curses at him with triumphant expressions, Scorpius couldn't have hoped to avoid all of them at once but thankfully he didn't have to as both his father, Aurelius and even the underage Dom cast _Protego_ again to defend him.

"Are you insane?!" James shrieked, "just let them have him!"

It was too late, even if the others were having second thoughts and a second later the street was ablaze with spells. The possessed started firing mutli-colored jets from both sides - anyone not possessed was fleeing - and Dom took one side of the street to fight back and his father took the other. Aurelius - who seemed to be best at the Shield Charm - defended the four of them, gesturing for Scorpius to come to him who was apart from the chaos as not a single spell was being directed at him. He started to move towards to Aurelius but stopped, the possessed-man who'd snapped his fingers was beckoning him.

_"Scorpius... Come to me."_

Scorpius didn't know where the voice came from, the man's lips didn't move but he couldn't look away from the pitch black eyes, he couldn't even blink. The chaos around him faded into nothingness, there was nothing but the darkness in those eyes, the rest of the world stopped registering in his mind. He suddenly felt so tired, his eyelids drooped and only being unwilling to look away from the darkness kept them propped open. His body wanted to collapse onto the ground and sleep forever, he was so tired, so weak. He felt his body sag but his inability to look away was all that kept him on his toes, the hand was still beckoning him in front of those eyes. He had to go towards them, maybe if he did then he could finally sleep? Staying awake was so hard. He dragged his feet across the cobbles.

And then he was being shoved to the ground. The trance was broken. He was wide awake. He was the midst of a duel again, cries of spells echoed around, jets of lights blazed over his head. He was being pulled to his feet and into a run towards the others by Michael, he realized, he'd almost forgotten about him.

"You'll pay for that, mudblood!" the possessed man sneered.

"Didn't you hear me yelling your name?!" Michael complained as they reached the other four, Scorpius hadn't heard him, he hadn't heard anything.

"Are - you - two - mad?!" Dom wondered exasperated in between spells, "you, walking _towards_ the Shadows trying to kill us and you, running into the _middle_ of a duel to stop him!"

"We're going to die anyway," James wailed as he glared at Scorpius, hatred gleaming in his brown eyes, "I blame you, Malfoy! We're going to die because of you."

"We are going to die," Aurelius agreed hopelessly, looking on the verge of tears but he didn't stop putting up the shields. Scorpius wished he knew a spell that would actually help, "we can't keep this up forever, they're inaccurate and sluggish but we are seriously outnumbered."

"We just need to think of a plan, I told Jack and Vern to find help," Michael spoke up, "if we can hold off until then."

"Then what, Dragon-breath?!" James snapped turning his glare to the younger boy, "they can die too? There's no Calderon or rune things here! There's no way to fight them off!"

"Wait, I thought of something," Aurelius said quickly, "has anyone tried casting a Patronus at them? I mean Specters are clearly dark and evil and Patronuses fight off dark and evil things like Dementors and Lethifolds."

"Then try casting a Patronus!" his father yelled desperately.

"I-I can't, I don't have a happy enough memory anymore."

"How useful!" James yelled angrily as a spell broke through the defenses and hit his father in the arm, he screamed in pain and fell back onto the ground, his wand falling to the ground as he clutched at his bleeding arm. Michael fell to his knees without hesitation to help, Scorpius thought he saw the possessed smile at one of the their protectors falling. They really were doomed.

"We're dead either way so..." Dom whispered and took a deep breath before swishing her wrist for the final time, "_EXPECTO PATRONUM!_"

Immediately a huge silvery bird erupted from the tip of her wand, it screeched and sped towards the possessed on one side. They stopped firing spells at them and instead cowered as the bird swooped down on them, the possessed on the other side were cowering too and abruptly shadows started leaving their bodies. They convulsed violently then almost in unison went limp on the ground, the dark shapes melted away into the alleyways and vanished from sight. There was a series of pops and Aurors started appearing.

"It's not cold anymore," Aurelius pointed out.

* * *

_**Thanks to:** Bloodpixie140, Winged-panther1, Diddleymaz, Aya Diefair and Luc16 for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Sorry this took so long, laptop crashed and I lost half the chapter and had to write it all over again which is probably a good thing because I veered into a much longer wand tangent first time I wrote it because I actually read up about wand woods/cores and planned my OC's and next generation characters wand (unless they're non-magical, Calderon or the Shadow Master) based off their traits and personalities and skills and everything, that's how much effort I put into this but probably not interesting to read about especially if you don't get the meanings. Also I know I heard somewhere that Rowling said the wizarding gene couldn't survive Vernon Dursley so Dudley wouldn't have any magical kids, usually I try stay as close to canon as I can but I planned him before I heard that and he does have a purpose so there, only thing I changed was his name to honor the actor who played Vernon dying recently and I think I prefer Vern anyway_

_**Questions:**_  
_**I am curious to know why you use 'Mudblood' in reference to Michael instead of 'Muggle-born?'** _  
_Because he was trying to mentally distance himself from his friends to feel less guilty_

_**Since we read it in Scorpius' point of view, does he actually think that way about his friend?**_  
_He used to, it stopped appearing in Blood Runes because he accepted Michael and stopped thinking of him as mudblood_


	3. II: Gifts

_**Thanks to:** BloodPixie140, Aya Diefair, Lucifersdaughter and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**  
**_Is Dom going to be featuring more as a main character?_**  
_She won't exactly be a main character but she does get a bigger role as the books go on and she is more important in this book than the last_

**_Where did Michael get his bruises from if it was not Jack?_**  
_From his home where he lives with his stepdad_

**_Will we find that out?_**_  
Yep_

**_Is this new revelation gonna put Patronus learning on all years 1-7 curriculum?_**  
_Yes it will although whether they'll succeed is another matter, students will be taught to protect themselves_

* * *

Scorpius felt oddly dazed and apart from it all as the Aurors 'secured' the Alley, got the unconscious or injured people to St Mungo's - with the exception of his father who was dealt with in the street so he could be questioned, Mrs Potter returned with Lucy and Molly, a few people asked him if he was alright and he told them that he was. He heard snatches of conversation, praise for Dom, Michael apologizing to Mrs Potter for his father's behavior although Jack was nowhere to be found - not was Vern for that matter, Aurors started discussing the attack which was apparently oddly uncoordinated compared to earlier attacks and the motive for the attack, that it was Varanian wanting revenge-

"Varanian _isn't_ the Shadow Master!" Scorpius yelled frustratingly and the nearby Aurors jumped at the surprisingly conversation, "he's innocent! He was possessed and didn't do anything to my memory, why can't you just accept the truth?"

"Innocent men don't tend to run," the sandy-haired Auror Cel pointed out stubbornly.

"I'm sure he had a good reason for it, he's not stupid."

"Escaping was the stupidest thing he could've done," one of the other Aurors offered and they nodded in agreement before moving away out of Scorpius' earshot.

"I hope he's not innocent," Molly said coming up to stand beside him with a strange expression on her face, her little sister was crying into Mrs Potter's dress, "if not then the Aurors have been wasting their time and the Shadows have been flourishing unchallenged. The Aurors will live to regret it, they'll realize the error of their ways but by then it will be too late, their power will be broken, the Ministry will be overrun and the Shadow Master will take a throne built from the bones of enemies..."

"Um... What?" Scorpius wondered and Molly blinked looking surprised.

"What?"

"You were getting a little dark there."

"Sorry," Molly muttered rubbing her eyes, "I just feel kinda weird."

"Its okay," Scorpius offered kindly before Jack and Vern returned, Jack was grinning madly as he ran over to them.

"You will never believe the most awesome thing just happened to us," Jack began excitedly to Mrs Potter whose eyes narrowed darkly and he winked at her, "and I decided to forgive you for attacking me by the way, your passion against me just proves we got a spark, opposites attract and you should could yourself lucky to actually be hot enough for me when you're a decade older. So I met this guy and he's-"

"Nobody cares! Its not important, doesn't it bother you that your son almost died?" Mrs Potter snapped angrily and Jack shorted dismissively as he folded his arms. Vern's eyes bulged fearfully as he looked at Michael as if expecting him to drop dead at any moment.

"You can't die from pretty lights flying through the air, he's not... what's that thing called? Epkelptiky? Eplepeptic? Well whatever it is, he doesn't have it. I think. Wait, he has dyslenkia... no, that's a different thing to epeplektiky or whatever its called."

"Its called epilepsy," Michael corrected him tiredly, "and its dyslexia not dyslenkia."

"Whatever it is. How am I supposed to know what's wrong with you?"

"Come on, Scorpius, we're going home," his father said stalking away from Harry Potter, Scorpius couldn't even open his mouth to say goodbye before he was apparated back home. His father promptly hugged him tightly and kissed the top of his head, "you're safe now, I love you son."

"I love you too," Scorpius whispered back despite not liking leaving so abruptly, his dad may not be perfect but Scorpius was feeling appreciative for not having Jack as a dad, he felt even worse for Michael.

Whether the attack or the questioning, his father seemed shaken and withdrawn for the rest of the day, his grandmother barely said a word and it left to Scorpius and his mother alone to pretend to be happy. He actually thought he'd preferred Diagon Alley, before the attack anyway. They didn't mention the attack at all in his presence but his father had had a long private conversation with his mother after they'd gotten back, he was sure she'd been told as her worry showed between her forced smiles.

He opened his presents - although it felt extremely strange to do so considering earlier, mostly clothes and books from his parents and grandmother as well as a beautifully crafted chessboard as they knew he liked to play. The rest were all gifts he'd received in the mail, his Aunt Daphne had gotten him his own broomstick servicing kit, sweets mostly from his friends - minus Michael and Molly, Molly had gotten him a pair of fingerless black-brown leather Quidditch with a moving silver Thestral embroidered on each as she knew he liked the Thestrals. He couldn't help but smile at that, he really liked them although he had a feeling they were expensive and he hoped she hadn't spent too much on him. Then there were the cards, a few of the people on the Quidditch team had sent him cards, as had Calderon and Professor Ashain and someone else. The final card was the most interesting, beneath 'Happy Birthday' was a message:

_SEPTEMBER 1ST. 10.45AM. KING'S CROSS STATION _

_WAIT OUTSIDE THE DISABLED MUGGLE BATHROOM. ALONE_

_TELL NO ONE. BURN THIS AFTER READING_

_- V_

Scorpius read it. Then reread it. He could only assume 'V' meant Varanian, was Varanian arranging to meet him? Why did he want to see him? Or what if it wasn't Varanian? What if it was someone more sinister just pretending to be Varanian to lure him into a trap? The Shadows had been after him in Diagon Alley, he still wasn't quite sure why he'd felt tired and walked towards the enemy. Maybe this was another attempt? He would be vulnerable alone after all.

"Whose it from?" his mother asked curiously.

"Err..." Scorpius began and wondered whether he should tell, he should if it was the Shadows after him... then again, what if it _was_ Varanian? What if it was important? It would mean he would _have_ to go to Hogwarts because he had no other excuse to be there, he sighed inwardly, "someone else from the Quidditch team."

His mother bought the lie without hesitation and didn't attempt to see the card, he wasn't sure why she would but he was feeling paranoid about it. He burned it as soon as he was alone, he'd already memorized it. It was on his mind for the rest of the day as it would be for the rest of the summer. When he blew out the twelve candles on his chocolate birthday cake, he wished for an uneventful year.

Seeing his friends enabled him to work up the courage to read the letters they'd wrote to him that summer - although he guiltily had trouble deciphering Michael's atrocious handwriting - as he would have to face them at Hogwarts after all. He still wrote them a long reply each and thanked them for their gifts, apologizing for having to leave so suddenly as well. He had the urge to write 'I'm also sorry I was willing to sacrifice you' but didn't. All four of them wrote back and he communicated with them for the rest of August, he wished he had wished to stop feeling guilty instead.

* * *

_It was late or maybe early, he didn't know what time the nightmare had woken him up but it had and he was terrified, so terrified he'd wet the bed. He was too ashamed to tell his father and telling his grandparents wasn't even an option. He'd just changed his clothes and braved the house in the dark, despite the seemingly infinite number of scary-looking shadows no Death Eaters had jumped out to attack him and he'd made it into the most used parlor._

_He was sitting on his favorite couch, it was the most comfortable and so huge his small six-year-old body could sink into the soft fabric. He was curled up protectively with his head resting on the arm, gazing at the picture in his hands. It was of his mother. She was smiling in the picture, laughing even with her streaming golden hair blowing in the wind and her amber eyes seemed to twinkle happily. He had to stare at the photo a lot to see her like that, otherwise he just kept seeing her lying with her limbs at the wrong angles, her mouth open as she had died screaming. She still looked like she was screaming as the flies landed on her lips but she didn't notice, her eyes just stared at him, glassy glazed over eyes that couldn't see him._

_The Death Eaters had killed her. After they tortured her about the muggle-borns - mudbloods, they had called them like his grandparents did - she'd been hiding even though she was a pureblood. He didn't understand what was so important about your blood status, the muggle-borns had been just like normal people and he played with the children just like his own brother, people were just people so why did it matter about their blood anymore than eye color or height or anything? You couldn't even see your blood unless you were hurt and all blood looked the same as far as he knew. It had mattered to the Death Eaters, they'd wanted to kill the muggle-borns but his mother had already had them flee through the Vanishing Cabinet. She didn't tell them that though, even when they tortured her so much her screams continued to resonate inside his skull for weeks after, even when they'd turned on him instead. He squeezed his eyes shut to stop the tears from falling again, he didn't want to cry again, he just wanted the memories to go away and his mother to be alive._

_But she wasn't. When hurting him hadn't worked, they'd killed her. Two words, a flick of the wrist, a flash of light and his mother was gone. Forever. Forever was a long time to not have your mother. Maybe it was good she was gone, she was a proud Gryffindor, she had been so brave. What would she think of having a coward son who was scared all the time and cried and wet the bed? He was pathetic. She would hate him, she would be ashamed of him. He still missed her so much._

_He was torn from his thoughts by footsteps and looked up in terror but it was only his older brother, his half-blood half-brother, did it really matter that much? The nine-year-old was creeping past the door as if afraid of getting caught, carrying one of their father's broomsticks in his hands._

_"Brutus, what are you doing?" he called out and the boy froze in his tracks and glanced over to him, a scowl on his deformed face._

_"Why are you awake, Atty?" Brutus wondered as he came over to him._

_"Why are you awake? And why do you have one of Father's brooms?"_

_"Because... none of your business. So why are you up?"_

_"Because... none of your business," he repeated his brother's words, feeling cool to have said something Brutus said. Brutus was cool, he was so smart he knew everything and he was so brave he wasn't afraid of anything. He wished he was more like Brutus._

_"You were having nightmares again, weren't you?" Brutus guessed and he flinched, feeling his eyes watering again._

_"No."_

_"Liar. You have to stop having nightmares and being sad all the time, you're making Father sad and when Father gets sad he goes away on vacation for ages. Is that what you want? For Father to go away and to have no parents at all?!" Brutus snapped and he couldn't stop the tears leaking from his eyes._

_"No," he wailed and he pressed his palms against his eyes as he sobbed._

_"I-I'm sorry," Brutus stammered sounding guilty as he lost his anger, he heard the broom clattering to the ground and a second later Brutus was sitting beside him and putting his arms around him, he buried his head in the crook of Brutus' neck and cried, "I'm sorry, please don't cry, Atty, I didn't mean to upset you. I just don't want Father to go away again, Grandfather and Grandmother hate me and I don't have a mother."_

_"I-I c-can't h-h-help i-it. I-I'm n-not br-brave l-like y-you a-a-are."_

_"You think I'm brave?" Brutus asked sounding surprised as he rubbed his shoulders soothingly._

_"O-Ob-viously," he told him and Brutus hugged him tighter but didn't say anything, "I-I m-miss m-my m-mom s-s-so m-much."_

_"I know... But you know, at least your mother loved you. My mother didn't love me, she didn't want me, she didn't care about me... At... At least you know that there's not something so wrong with you that your own mother couldn't love you and all mothers are supposed to always love their children so it shows how bad I am inside that mine didn't. Even Father leaves me whenever he goes on vacation whenever Grandfather and Grandmother upset him, I bet he wouldn't even care if I was dead, no one would," Brutus said sadly almost sounding like he was about to cry too, "but you're perfect, Father loves you and I love you and your mother loved you... she wouldn't want you to be sad, she'd be happy you're alive and about You-Know-Who being defeated, she would want you to be happy not sad, not having bad dreams. You don't want the people you love to suffer."_

_"I-I c-can't h-help i-i-it, I d-don't w-want t-t-to b-be sc-scared... I-I w-was s-so sc-scared I w-w-wet th-the b-bed, I'm n-not per-perfect," he admitted through his tears and expected Brutus to ridicule him but instead his brother stroked his hair gently like his mother used to and he felt calmer, the tears stopped coming as he relaxed feeling comforted._

_"You're going to be okay, you know?" Brutus whispered soothingly, "it may seem bad now but it'll be okay in the end, you just have to hold on and get through the bad times and eventually the good times will come. I'll make sure of it because brothers look out for each other no matter what. I'll clean up your bed and it'll be okay, I'll show you to fly. I love flying, if that doesn't cheer you up then I don't know what will."_

_"I l-love you, Brutus, pl-please don't die t-too," he begged hugging his brother tight._

_"I won't, Atty, you can count on me," Brutus promised and he glanced at the misty-eyed nine-year-old in time to see a weak smile._

_The scene changed and suddenly he was at Hogwarts, his wand out as he cast the fatal Shield Charm. He tried to scream 'no' but his lips didn't move, he just watched as his shield deflected his brother's curse straight back to him. Brutus barely had time to look surprised as he was propelled backwards off the wall, too fast to react and in the mere seconds it took to lower the charm and ready his wand to save his brother, it was too late._

_"Brutus!"_

"Daddy, wake up!"

Atticus Ashain was jerked back into consciousness at the sound of his daughter's voice, he cringed at the wave of pain being awake caused. He'd been awake a month and the wounds still throbbed painfully, he knew exactly where the scars were from the pain alone and he actually felt a burning pain_ beneath_ the skin because it had cut so deep or gone straight through, it seared every time he moved or spoke or breathed and nothing he could take that he wasn't allergic too helped in the slightest.

He blinked a few times to adjust and breathed through the pain, shivering at the cold despite the sunlight streaming through the windows and regretted deciding to sleep shirtless but it had been hot when he went to bed. Usually the light woke him up as he was an incredibly light sleeper, he'd had trouble sleeping with the pain though so when he did sleep it was deeper than normal. He glanced across his bed to his four-year-old daughter, she had her held tilted to one side and was studying him intently with her large chestnut brown eyes. She looked as though someone had dumped a pile of straw on top of her head as she usually did no matter how many times you brushed it, she smiled at him brightly.

"Good you're awake, Daddy, I think you were having a bad dream acause you said 'no' really loudly," Cassia explained to him, "I'm cold. Can I come into bed with you, Daddy?"

"Sure," he agreed an instant after she'd clambered up beside him and wrapped the duvet around them, he'd have to get up in a minute though. He realized she was holding his wand and carefully took it from her, afraid of her accidentally discharging magic and hurting herself, "didn't I tell you not to play with Daddy's wand?"

"Yes. I wasn't playing, I was just looking at it acause I like it and I was being carefulled. Can I have your wand when I'm olderer to go to magic school?"

"You'll get your own wand."

"But can't I have your wand? I like it."

"Your wand chooses you," he told her as he placed it on the closest bedside table.

"I know but what if it choosed me? I mean you like me don't you, Daddy?"

"Of course, Daddy loves you very much."

"Exacly so won't your wand love me too then?" Cassia wondered hopefully and he smiled at her childish logic, putting an arm around her and she happily nestled close to him, "I want to be just like you, Daddy, I love you."

"That's a good point, I'm sure my wand will love you but then I wouldn't have a wand."

"We could share, sharing is gooder you say. I thought we mighted have to share eyes but you have yours so its okay."

"Erm... Sharing eyes?" he repeated trying to puzzle out what that meant or if he'd misheard.

"Yes. One of the mens at the door talking to Mummy said that I had your eyes so I thought that you gived yours to me in my sleep for some reasons and I felted bad that you had no eyes so I thought we could share, we each haved one eye acause that's fairer. Isn't it, Daddy?"

"Yes that would be but he just meant that your eyes look like mine, its just something people say," he pointed out, "what men at the door are talking to Mummy?"

"Just some growed ups talking about a cure for the disease."

"Oh right," he muttered, it was probably people collecting for some charity although he wasn't sure how they would know his daughter had his eyes, he didn't recall knowing any charity workers.

"Daddy, can I tell you a secret?"

"You can tell me anything," he promised and she bit her lip nervously.

"Well... I can talk to birds. Not like just say words to them but I can understanded what they say and they can understanded me, most birds are boring and I didn't know if it was real but I talked to the owl who broughted you that birthday card. He was very nice and he saided his name was Free, he was happy to be able to delivered a card acause his wizard Scorpius is sadder and didn't sended a lot of mail so he was bored but he likes flying so he was happy to fly. Is that normal for magic people?"

"Its a very special gift," he told her gently, trying to recall what little he knew about wizards with the ability to communicate with birds, supposedly he'd had an ancestor who could speak to birds and had a particular fondness for vultures. It was rare although looked upon more kindly than Parseltongue.

"Don't tell Mummy, I don't think she would be happy. I don't think Mummy likes magic things very much. She always says to Uncle Jason that she wisheded you were human and that he is lucky that our cousins ared human and she wants us to be human and she doesn't know why there is no cure for magic and why you don't think that magic is bad," Cassia explained and looked upset, "am I bad for being magic?"

"Of course not, you're not bad. Magic isn't bad and it doesn't mean you're not human, its just a part of you. Some people have brown eyes and some people have blue, some people have magic and some people don't. There are good people and bad people in the world, some people with magic are bad and they use it for bad but most people - like me and you and Tony - are good people and we only use magic for good. You're not bad, don't ever think that you are," he explained and kissed the top of her head gently, upset that his daughter could even consider that.

"Did bad people with magic hurted you?" Cassia asked quietly and touched the dark scar on his chest, it was ever so light but the wave of pain made him want to throw up and he carefully moved her hand away, "Mummy was said that magic was bad if it had hurted you."

"It was just one bad wizard who hurt me, most wizards are good," he reaffirmed his stance on magic not being bad and she smiled as she nuzzled into him and gripped his hand tight.

"When I growed up I'm is going to be a good wizard and hunted the bad ones then there will be no bad ones left and then Mummy will know that magic isn't bad and she'll be happy again."


	4. II: The Old and the New

Scorpius was starting to regret his decision when he woke up on the morning of September 1st, or rather just got up because he didn't think he'd slept at all. He was worried about the meeting, about it just being a trap after all and having nothing to do with Varanian. He kept reminding himself he could back out at any time, he just had to refuse to go to Hogwarts or tell his parents about the arranged meeting but he couldn't bring himself to. If it was Varanian then it was probably important, otherwise he wouldn't have taken the risk of contacting Scorpius so he should be willing to risk himself too. It didn't make him feel any less anxious.

He got ready, changing into his school uniform already to save him having to do so on the train - assuming he wasn't ambushed and killed by Shadows - and finishing packing. He picked at his breakfast, he found it hard to feel hungry when his stomach was in knots.

"I'm glad you're going back to Hogwarts," his grandmother said and he was so startled at her starting a conversation that he nearly choked on his spoon, she was smiling weakly for the first time since her husband had died, "its what Lucius wanted."

"I was actually wondering if we could get to the station early?" Scorpius decided to ask, to make sure he was there at the right time, "so I can get a good seat on the train."

"Of course," his father agreed.

It was just his mother taking him to the station though, his father was staying with his grandmother so he said goodbye to them both and his friend Yip the house-elf before leaving with his mother. His mother actually seemed to be doing the best out of all of them, she hadn't been close to his grandfather so he supposed the death had hit her the least hardest. _Its now or never_, he told himself and tried not feel like he was walking to his death.

"Mother, I need the bathroom," Scorpius lied just after they arrived at the hectic station.

"Why didn't you go before we left?" his mother wondered and shook her head at him smiling, it had been a long time since they'd had a conversation like that. The nostalgia made his heart hurt.

"Because I didn't need to go then. Just carry on to the platform and I'll meet you there, I'll be as quick as I can..." he lied and quickly dived into the crowd of muggles.

As much as he tried not to, he really couldn't help but feel disgusted and a tiny bit afraid to be alone amongst the throng of muggles as it made him think of Marvin. It had been over a year since he killed muggle and escaped but it still upset him to think about it, he'd been having nightmares although he couldn't remember them but he was sure it was probably about Marvin like before. He knew that logically not _all_ muggles were bad but he still didn't feel safe around them. It didn't help from meeting Michael's dad and Professor Ashain's wife, the former was completely unlikeable and the latter considered magic a disease.

He found the disabled bathroom - or a disabled bathroom anyway, he was pretty sure the sitting stick person with a partial circle was disabled anyway. He was there before quarter to but there was a giant clock keeping track of the time, he still felt awkward standing outside the disabled bathroom and got some funny looks, although his robes might have contributed to that. A few of them even asked him what he was doing and he just lied, claiming his mother was in the disabled bathroom and the lock was broken so he was standing outside to wait for her and make sure no one barged in. Muggles were gullible. He still didn't like it though, he clutched his wand in his pocket and that made him feel a little safer as muggles walked by and the clock hands crept closer to quarter to.

10.45am. Nothing happened. Scorpius intensified his scanning of the crowd but none of them were paying him the slightest bit of attention, no Shadows were attacking and Varanian wasn't coming up to him. Although considering Varanian was a metamorphmagus, the former headmaster could have walked past him a hundred times already and he wouldn't know, Varanian could even have been one of the people who'd spoken to. The lack of anything happening actually made him more worried, had he memorized the note wrong? Or worse, had something happened to Varanian to stop him from showing up?

Time continued to tick by and he waited for almost ten minutes before deciding he had to move or he would miss the train, his mother would be out of her mind and would probably start looking for him anyway so even if Varanian was simply late then it was pointless. He started to walk away, feeling slightly disappointed, slightly relieved and possibly more worried than he'd been before. Abruptly a hand was grabbing him and hauling him backwards into one of the rooms he'd passed.

"Relax, its me," Varanian's voice told him firmly before he had time to truly panic, Scorpius spun to face the fugitive whose appearance was shifting into a recognizable person. He thought that Varanian looked even thinner than when Scorpius had last seen him, his face was more gaunt and his silvery eyes were ringed with tiredness, even his short scruffy tawny hair seemed scruffier. Varanian had most of his scars invisible but left the ones on the edges of his cheeks and the bottom of his chin, it was the first time he'd seen Varanian in disheveled muggle clothes rather than wizard robes.

"I was there early, I waited for you," Scorpius pointed out as Varanian glanced around at the empty office room and went to peer out the door as if to make sure no one was following.

"I know, I'm sorry, I had to make sure it wasn't a trap or that you hadn't been followed. I had no way of knowing whether you still believed I was innocent or believed that memory altering crap."

"I've told them - repeatedly - that you didn't alter my memory and they don't believe me. Especially since you escaped."

"I didn't have much of a choice," Varanian pointed out running a hand through his hand and checking the door again, "one of the Aurors guarding me tried to kill me, he's one of the Shadows. Not that they'd believe me, if I gave myself up then I'd be dead by sunrise and they'd make it look like I escaped with my supposed 'shadow powers'. I don't know how many Aurors are Shadows but I know there's at least one much more senior Shadow person somewhere in the Auror office. The Shadows want me dead, the Aurors want me dead or alive, they're not picky anymore."

"That's horrible," Scorpius offered worriedly, actually feeling bad for Varanian as his situation seemed rather hopeless.

"Yeah but my in-laws have been helping me and its not what I wanted to talk you about. I've been trying to hunt down the Shadow Master, really not as easy as sounds. But I have found out some things," Varanian told him and Scorpius hung on his every word, "there's some kind of connection between the Specters and the Shadow Master, I don't know how it works or why or what exactly but I know the Shadow Master was connected to the Specters when you killed them. It sent the Shadow Master into some kind of coma and the leadership has fallen to the next in command which is one of more persons unknown. One of them is the person the corrupt Auror answers to, he or she is responsible for coordinating the attacks to hide the Shadow Master's condition and frame me. The others are either equals or higher ups, they're carrying on with the Shadow Master's plan and trying to revive him... That's where you come in."

"Me?"

"You're the one who put him into a coma, you're the one who can revive him."

"How?" Scorpius wondered and Varanian threw up his hands.

"I have no idea, I'm not even sure they know exactly. I don't know everything, I don't even know a lot, I don't even know if they want you dead or alive. Just snatches of conversations, deductions and thoughts I heard while I was possessed. They're after you though, I wanted to warn you. Try stay at Hogwarts with Marius, they're terrified of him so if anyone can keep you safe then its Marius. Even if Hogwarts isn't as safe as used to be."

"Is there anything else?" Scorpius asked desperately, "or anything I can do to help? I want to help. I want to hunt the Shadow Master too."

"What? Are you sure?" Varanian questioned looking surprised.

"Yes!" Scorpius protested fiercely, "I've been more sure of anything in my life. I want the Shadows and their Shadow Master dead. He took my grandfather's_ soul_, the Shadow Master is evil, the Shadows are evil and they should be stopped and the Aurors aren't doing anything, if you're doing something and I can do anything then I want to help. I know I'm just twelve but-"

"You put the Shadow Master into a coma and destroyed hundreds of Specters, I don't actually care how old you are," Varanian interrupted, "but for now the best way you can help is just need to stay safe like I said. But safe doesn't mean do nothing, try learn as much defensive magic as you can and read up about patronus' because you should know how to protect yourself in case - _when_ - the Shadows come after you again. I can't tell you more now, there's no time or you'll miss the train but I'll be in touch. Unless I die. Tell no one. Take care."

"You too," Scorpius offered as Varanian disapparated.

Scorpius hurried back, he ran in fact because it was nearly eleven. He weaved his way through the crowd and hurtled through the barrier, almost running into his mother who had been going to look for him. He didn't have time to do much else besides hugging her goodbye and telling her he loved her before rushing to get onto the train before it departed - his mother had gotten his things on already- which he managed, it left a literal minute after he got on board.

He was feeling oddly hopeful for the first time all summer, Varanian was going after the Shadow Master - who was in a coma - so how hard could it be to stop him? The Shadows would be stopped, Varanian's name would be cleared and with any luck the Shadow Master could rot inside their mind for the rest of their natural life because killing someone in a coma - even the Shadow Master - didn't seem right. Wasn't a bad punishment anyway. He made his way through the train where people were still finding their seats, mechanically having walked to the staff compartment and cheered up even more when he saw Professor Ashain there.

"Professor!" Scorpius greeted him happily and grinned, Professor Ashain looked up from staring out of the window and returned the smile weakly, "can I sit here?"

"Wouldn't you rather sit with your friends?" the professor wondered and Scorpius lost his mind as he was reminded of his guilt. Why couldn't he stop feeling guilty? He didn't feel guilty about Varanian. That made him feel worse, why didn't he feel guilty about Varanian? The former headmaster was risking his life to stop the Shadow Master and had saved him from Duvall, he may not be friends with Varanian but he respected him, "still on a guilt trip?"

"Yeah."

"Alright then," Professor Ashain agreed and gestured for him to sit, Scorpius sat down opposite him, "you really shouldn't feel guilty, you know? You saved the entire school."

"But I was willing to kill six people to do it. Four of them being my friends."

"You do realize the fact you were willing to sacrifice them is what_ saved_ their lives?"

"I don't think being willing to kill my friends is a good thing, I'm a bad person," Scorpius mumbled feeling his good mood slipping and the professor hesitated for a moment before replying.

"Did you ever consider that the mental pain it put you through to sacrifice them was so great that it was enough for _six_ lives, including two people you disliked? I'm sure they'd have died if Calderon had done it, even if he was willing because he doesn't have the personal connection to them like you did so his mental sacrifice wouldn't have been enough to save them," Professor Ashain told him, Scorpius hadn't thought of that, "you're not a bad person, you're a good person to care so much in the first place so stop beating yourself up about it. Please."

"Thanks," Scorpius offered, actually finding comfort in the professor's words and smiled weakly before the train jerked particularly harshly, the cringe of pain in the professor's tired face told him that his wounds hadn't healed much, "still in pain?"

"Its not so bad. It only hurts if I move or talk or do magic or breathe," the professor brushed it off and laughed nervously, stopping to wince, "or laugh."

"I'm sorry."

"Its alright, I'll get better."

"How's things with your family?" Scorpius asked curiously as well as to change the subject, starting to feel guilty again as the professor had been injured saving him, he should be the one in pain.

"Good. I think. I'm staying in contact with them, Calderon's allowing them to visit on weekends because the healers don't recommend me using magic to travel. I don't think Skye will come though, just the kids. She wouldn't even walk through the barrier to Platform 9 and 3/4. She seems more accepting of magic but still not there yet I think," Professor Ashain explained and looked thoughtful, "oh and my daughter is an Aviora."

"A what?"

"She can talk to birds."

"Cool," Scorpius offered with a slight smile before the compartment door opened.

He recognized the pair immediately, Professor Hagrid's son Corin and his best friend Maurice Rivers. Corin was as tall as an adult but lean, his face was still a child's boyish face and huge black glittering eyes like his father, his dark brown hair looked tamed though and he continued to hold himself with an air of elegance. Maurice looked maybe a tad taller than when Scorpius had last seen him - he was still dwarfed by Corin though - but his sea-green eyes were still sharp despite the dark bags they carried, his hair was light brown with a slight wave to it. Maurice was still wearing his strange translator necklace, a black teardrop in a gilded circle as well as still wearing the brown fingerless gloves that covered all the wrist he could see. Both boys were dressed in their Hogwarts robes and Corin beamed when he saw him.

"Hi Scor, mon ami!" Corin greeted him happily and strode over, hauling Scorpius to his feet and kissing each cheek, "it is good to see you again! We were almost afraid that you weren't on the train, we were looking for you."

"Err... hi," Scorpius guessed, still stunned by the reaction. Was that normal in France? Corin and Maurice both sat down next to Professor Ashain, Maurice placing a hand on his necklace that now glowed blue while the professor looked exasperated as Scorpius sat back down.

"I'm terribly sorry but this is the staff compartment, you can't sit here," Professor Ashain pointed out.

"Scor's here," Corin stated and looked down - he was just about taller than the professor - on Professor Ashain.

"He's... was... Calderon's assistant so that makes him practically staff."

"My father is a professor so that gives me permission to be in here, I give Maurice permission as my friend so all is well, Ashain."

"It's only logical," Maurice agreed but the compartment door opened again before the professor could reply, this time it was Molly looking on the verge of tears.

"Can I sit in here? Everywhere else is full," Molly said quietly.

"Sure, the more the merrier," Professor Ashain commented sarcastically but Molly seemed too upset to notice as she sat down beside Scorpius, staring at the ground sadly while the professor went back to staring out of the window.

"What's wrong?" Scorpius asked gently and Molly spared him a glance before replying.

"James told his friends about Lucy being a squib, it spread and now everyone knows. My friends don't want to be friends with me anymore, no one wants to sit with me and my cousins are either in full compartments or are sitting with people who won't sit with the sister of a squib. Everyone hates me."

"Well they should," Corin pointed out with a look of disgust.

"Yes. Squibs are disgusting and wrong, worse than being deaf," Maurice added and Molly's eyes managed to blaze with anger and fill with tears at the same time.

"Hey! Its not Molly's fault that her sister's a squib," Scorpius said defensively.

"No one is disgusting and wrong," Professor Ashain announced firmly, "there's nothing wrong with squibs, some people have magic and some people don't, its not disgusting or wrong."

"You must be related to a squib to say that," Corin told him dismissively.

"Well yes, an uncle but I never met him and it doesn't make a difference. People focus so much on the differences between each other that they forget the similarities, magic or not, we're all just human and that's what matters. Pureblood, half-blood, muggle-born, muggle or squib, no one is disgusting, wrong or diseased."

"That reminds me," Molly began turning to Maurice, "your father is my mother's brother, that makes us cousins. Which means you're my sister's cousin too. Which means you're related to a squib too."

"Damn," Maurice muttered looking down and the conversation ended.

There was a few minutes of extremely uncomfortable and awkward silence before Corin opened his mouth to speak. Whatever he was going to say however was cut off as the compartment door opened once more, it was the elderly witch who pushed the sweet trolley with a boy. He was the strangest looking boy Scorpius had ever seen, he was completely taken aback despite himself. He was clearly a first year, a particularly haggard looking first year and dressed in a muggle sweater, jacket, jeans and sneakers.

That wasn't what was strange about him though. His hair was white, not blond, _white_. Pure white, whiter than snow, it was nearly shoulder length with a slight wave to it. And his eyes, such sharp, piercing _crimson_ eyes. His skin was so pale that it practically seemed colorless... Scorpius had the strangest feeling that they'd met before but that was impossible, he would have remembered someone with such a strange appearance. The boy stared at the ground, his strange eyes shadowed by tiredness and a melancholy expression on his face as though he would never be happy again.

"Sorry to trouble you, Professor," the elderly woman began although everyone but the professor still had their eyes on the boy who didn't move, "but could you spare a seat for... what was your name again?"

"Orous," the boy whispered without looking up and Scorpius could have sworn he'd heard the voice before.

"Could you spare a seat for Orous here? He's just standing in the corridor because he's too shy to ask anyone if he could sit with them."

"Why not?" Professor Ashain agreed although didn't sound very enthusiastic and Scorpius started to feel bad for sitting with him, he'd probably wanted a nice quiet journey not a full compartment.

"Thank you," Orous said so quietly it was barely audible as he sat down on Molly's other side, bringing his legs onto the seat and squishing his small body as far into the corner as he could, resting his head against it and staring at the ground still with that look of hopelessness.

Orous didn't speak another word for the rest of the journey, in fact he didn't move at all aside from breathing and blinking. Corin did most of the talking, barraging Scorpius with questions about his 'heroics' in saving the school which Scorpius tried to answer in as little detail as possible so Corin would get the hint he didn't want to talk about it. He finally did seem to get it and fell silent, instead turning to Maurice and starting up a conversation in their hand talk. Molly didn't seem in the mood to talk, even asking about Quidditch earned him short answers like he'd been giving to Corin and he took the hint much faster. He just went back to staring out of the window like Professor Ashain was doing. It felt like a long ride but at least the Shadows didn't attack the train. The Hogwarts Express didn't stop until it pulled into the station, they'd arrived.

* * *

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, Lucifersdaughter, Diddleymaz and Aya Diefair for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Yay back to Hogwarts next chapter, maybe Scorpius will actually get to see a sorting. Just out of curiosity, any guesses for the houses of Corin, Maurice, Vern and Orous? _

**_Questions:_**

_**Wait so is Michael's stepfather hitting him?**  
Yes. I'm really surprised so many people picked up on that  
_

**_How old is Jack?_**  
_28_

**_So if you can talk to and understand birds does that make you a twitter?_**  
_Its something I made up, I figured if there's people who can talk to snakes then why not other animals? Aviora is what I'm calling them, 'avi' from the Latin word 'avis' meaning bird and 'ora' from the Latin word 'oratio' meaning speech_

**_I thought Jack was Michael's stepdad?_**  
_No, Jack is his biological dad, Michael just calls him 'Jack' rather than dad and he has his mother's maiden name rather than Jack's because his parents were never married. His stepdad's name is Robert 'Bob' J. Wilson, he hasn't been in it yet although he has been mentioned once or twice in Blood Runes, he would never be as nice to Michael as Jack is or introduce himself as Michael's dad_


	5. II: Fire From Nowhere

They left the train, giving Orous some privacy to change in the staff compartment as he alone hadn't changed. A silvery gibbous moon shone in the sky amongst the sparkling stars but it wasn't cold, it was a surprisingly warm night and the still air was devoid of even the gentlest breeze. Scorpius didn't really mind, as long as he didn't have to take another swim in the Black Lake then he was happy and only First Years went in the boats so the odds of that were highly unlikely. He was looking forward to the Thestral drawn carriages, he liked the strange creatures and he was actually feeling a lot better about being around his friends after talking to Professor Ashain.

"Ashain," Corin said as the five of them came out onto the platform, speaking as if to a servant rather than a professor, "I thought this would be rude to ask in the compartment but what was wrong with that boy? The freaky one with the red hairs and white hair that didn't say anything, is he even human? Is he diseased? Am I going to catch the disease from sitting with him?"

"He's an albino," Professor Ashain explained and gave Corin a disapproving look, "its a condition some people and animals are born with, its not contagious or dangerous. Its rude to call people freaky, treat your fellow peers with more respect."

"If I was being rude then I would have said to him 'bonjour Orous, why do you look like a freak with old man hair and creepy eyes?'"

Just as Corin spoke, Scorpius noticed Orous leaving the train, catching the last of Corin's sentence. A look of hurt crossed his face as he darted away from them with tears shining in his red eyes. Despite not knowing him very well - they hadn't actually spoken - Scorpius went after him, feeling bad for the boy. He called his name and Orous stopped in surprise, looking back with his piercing shimmering eyes.

"Corin didn't mean it," Scorpius offered awkwardly, he could never think of anything comforting to say and he tried to smile gently but had a feeling it made him look demented, "he was just being sarcastic, don't take it to heart."

"Hey psycho!" James Potter took that moment to spot him, swaggering over with a smirk and his cronies, "surprised you had the nerve to show up after what happened in Diagon Alley, you just fled like a coward with your loser father."

"Yeah because being apparated away without a choice is much more cowardly than begging the Shadows to take what they wanted to save your own sorry ass," Scorpius retorted and James' smile died, replaced by a look of loathing, "what no comeback, coward?"

"I'm not a coward!" James spat furiously, "you're a coward, you're just a pathetic, good-for-nothing loser and everyone knows it and everyone hates you, you Death Eater spawn piece of scum."

"Who saved your life not three months ago."

"That was... luck and Calderon, just shut up you liar! I don't care what the papers say, I know you're no hero, I see you for what you are. Nothing but an evil psycho."

"I actually don't care what you think because you're a jerk and I'm a Seeker," Scorpius pointed out coldly making James' eyes bulge with fury as Scorpius turned on his heel, "come on, Orous, I'll show you where you need to go."

"That's right, walk away coward! How's your dead sister doing with your dead grandaddy?" James called after him and despite himself Scorpius froze, he felt as though someone had just twisted a dagger into his heart at the hurtful sting of being reminded of the family he'd lost. Instead of blood seeping out, rage seeped in and his hands clenched into fists but he forced himself to breathe through it, he couldn't let James get to him. He started to take another step but froze as James spoke again, "having fun in hell together, I suppose? Well not fun because its hell and they're Malfoys and Malfoys are evil. Run along with your freak boyfriend with hair like an old man though, coward. Do you like being touched by old men or something?"

Scorpius had never hit anyone before in his life. But in that instant he swung around and threw a punch at James as hard as he could, having every desire and every intention of hitting him. Corin grabbed his arms and pulled him back before he could, the younger boy was much taller and stronger than him.

"He's not worth it," Corin pointed out quietly and jerked his head in the direction of James' friends, every one of them had their wands out ready to defend James, "you wouldn't have got close."

"Shut up!" Scorpius snapped. He didn't want to hear logic. He wanted to tear James' head off. He wanted- His thoughts were cut off by a scream and he realized James' robes were now on fire.

"Help! HELP! _HELP!_" James shrieked, trying to pat out the flames as he leaped around like a madman and his friends were either too stunned to help or didn't know a spell to put out the fire, much like the other surrounding students. Scorpius knew the spell to put out fire. He didn't use it. A second later Professor Ashain did though before the fire could do any real damage, even if using it made him look like he was about to pass out. The first words out of James' mouth weren't a thank you though, he pointed accusingly at Scorpius, "he set me on fire, Professor! The psycho tried to burn me alive! Expel him!"

"I did not!"

"Liar!"

"I didn't do anything to you!" Scorpius yelled and bit back adding 'but I wish I had' as he yanked his arms free of Corin's grip.

"Liar! Liar! Pants on fire!"

"No I think you're confusing me with yourself."

"See! That's practically an admission of guilt! He tried to kill me, Professor!"

"It is not! I don't even have my wand out!"

"Well maybe Calderon taught you to use magic the lunatic way he does!"

"How dare you insult Calderon!"

"How dare you try to kill me!"

"I didn't try to kill you!"

"Enough! Both of you. Now did anyone actually see who set the fire on Mr Potter? Anyone at all?" Professor Ashain interrupted irritably and addressed the nearby students, all of whom were shaking their heads, "innocent until proven guilty, Mr Potter, I'm inclined to believe Sc- Mr Malfoy. Wandless magic is beyond the talents of a Second Year and unless he managed to grow a third invisible arm holding an invisible wand as Co- Mr Maxime-Hagrid was holding his arms until just a moment ago."

"People don't just randomly catch fire!" James protested glaring at the professor furiously, "wait until my father hears of this. I _know_ Malfoy attacked me."

"I didn't attack you!" Scorpius screamed.

"I said enough," Professor Ashain reaffirmed holding up his hands, "if your father has any ideas on how to find out who actually attacked you then I'd be glad to hear them, in the meantime asking for witnesses is the best I can do and you people closest will be questioned sometime during the week until we get to the bottom of this. For now though, I suggest everyone carry on heading to the Great Hall before we miss the Feast. Mr Potter, if you're unhurt then I suggest you find some new robes to change into and if you are hurt then tell me now and I'll take you to the Hospital Wing."

"I'm fine," James snapped darkly as he stalked away back to the train, adding the next quieter, "except that Malfoy tried to kill me and all."

"Alright then, carry on everyone!" Professor Ashain called to the crowd that started dispersing, "remind me never to shout again. Scor, come here."

"Yes, Professor?" Scorpius wondered going over to him.

"I just have to ask, you really didn't try to burn him, did you?"

"No, I really didn't," Scorpius said firmly, he _knew_ he hadn't. Whenever he accidentally set things on fire his wrist hurt and his wrist hadn't hurt. He couldn't say that though. The professor tilted his head to one side and studied him a moment before nodding.

"Good, I believe you. Did you see anyone else do it? You're usually observant."

"I didn't, his friends had their wands out but it didn't look like they attacked James. I wasn't looking at anyone else."

"Alright. Best get to the carriages then."

"Cool, I've never been in a carriage pulled by invisible beasts before," Corin stated excitedly moving to follow Scorpius with Maurice in tow, he noticed Professor Hagrid's looming figure above the sea of heads behind them.

"Err... Yer don't go in the carriages," Professor Hagrid pointed out nervously, "yer go in the boats, since yer firs' years an' all."

"But Father, I _want_ to go in the carriages."

"Well I'm sorry bu' yer can't."

"You're my father, a Hogwarts _professor_. Its your call."

"Rules are rules, Corin, I can't go 'round bendin' 'em fer you now tha' yer a pupil. Its no' fair on the other students."

"But I'm your son. I _want_ to go in the carriages, Father."

"It don't matter, you 'ave t' go on the boats. Yer'll ge' t' go in the carriages every other year-"

"I don't care about every other year, I care about now and I want to go on the carriages!" Corin interrupted angrily, looking strangely like a three-year-old about to throw a tantrum despite being the height of a man. Professor Hagrid looked slightly upset but determined all the same.

"Well yer can't."

"But Father, I want-"

"No buts, Corin. Now come on. Firs' years, firs' years over here! Includin' you, Corin."

Corin looked both stunned and furious, his mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out. Professor Hagrid moved away calling for the other first years, Maurice tugged his friend's sleeve to get him to move in the direction after them. Maurice glanced back to Scorpius as he led Corin away though, a cold smile on his lips as he winked for some reason. Scorpius almost asked why but the deaf boy didn't have his hand on his necklace, he scowled and went to turn back to Orous but the albino was gone - he noticed a flash of white hair amongst the crowd around Professor Hagrid - and then went to turn back to Professor Ashain but he was also gone.

His scowl deepened as he headed to the carriages, hoping to see any of his friends and thankfully found them staring at the Thestral pulling the carriage they were standing by. He managed a smile although internally his anger was ebbing into hurt at James' comments and curiosity over who had set the bully's clothes on fire, had it been Maurice? Was that why the boy was winking? Or was he winking because he thought Scorpius had done it and was impressed? Or some other reason entirely?

"So this is what Thestrals look like," Abby was saying.

"I can't believe I didn't realize that I'd be able to see them now and you three as well," Albus added and Scorpius realized they'd all been close enough to the front to see Molly's mother die, like he had. Although he could already see Thestrals anyway.

"I could already see them," Michael pointed out, Scorpius was pleased to see his friend was no longer bruised or in a cast although he was still frightfully thin and appeared exhausted.

"Hey guys," Scorpius offered and they grinned at him, Albus clapped him on the back.

"Glad you decided to show up," Albus greeted him brightly as they exchanged hellos and got into the carriage, Scorpius noticed Molly looking alone and waved for her to join them.

"Is that okay?" he asked his friends quickly, "she's kind of left out right now."

"Its fine. I can't believe my brother ratted her and Lucy out like that."

"Well he is mad at her for being friends with Scorpius, no offense," Rose said quickly, "he's not as close to Molly or Lucy as he is to me and Al so he's less harsh I guess."

"I don't think he knew his friends would tell everyone and get her universally shunned. I mean things are fairer now for werewolves and muggle-borns and house-elves, they should have done something for squibs."

"What's a squib?" Michael asked but his question went unanswered.

"Maybe they just haven't gotten around to it yet?" Abby wondered as Molly joined them, still lacking her usual cheer as he carriage departed, "how's Lucy doing?"

"Not good really," Molly pointed out miserably, "she was so looking forward to going to Hogwarts and being a witch, we are a magical family and she's just devastated. It doesn't help the way Rivers reacted, he was her column of support since... you know... Mother died. And Father knew, he and mother suspected for a long time apparently but just kept hoping she was a late bloomer. They never said it to anyone else though. He wasn't there when she didn't get a letter, he'd been at work for three straight days and had no idea. He's always at work these days. That doesn't help Lucy either. He got her into a muggle school though, he thinks that'll help."

"Maybe it will."

"Maybe... So, Scor, what happened with you and James?"

"We were arguing," Scorpius admitted and from the puzzled looks on Rose, Abby and Albus' faces they hadn't heard. Michael's expression was neutral, he didn't seem as invested in the conversation as the others or maybe he did know, Scorpius decided he might as well be honest, "and... I kinda... tried to punch him but Corin pulled me back, then someone set James' robes on fire - he's alright by the way - and he freaked and blamed me."

"Did you do it?" Rose asked.

"No! Corin was still holding my arms, I didn't even have my wand out."

"No offense but... you kind of are good at fire," Albus offered awkwardly, "I mean you caused on in your sleep, did you do it by accident? Its not your fault if you did."

"I didn't do it! Accidentally or on purpose, I swear, I didn't," Scorpius protested although he was almost starting to doubt himself from saying it so much.

"Its alright, I believe you. I'm sorry my brother's such a jerk to you. And Michael."

"Its fine," Michael mumbled.

The conversation turned more cheerful as they talked about the Great Feast and looking forward to their second year - hopefully with less pain and Shadow attacks - and lessons. Second years didn't have Flying lessons so it was only seven subjects, Molly pointed out they should enjoy the lesser workload while it lasted because the following three years would have the added electives. Scorpius also discovered that they hadn't had exams last year, in light of the attack only the OWL and NEWT students had had exams as they'd been unmissable and important for the students futures. He also learned that Professor McGonagall had once again been appointed Headmistress in light of Varanian's... forced leave, although Calderon had really ordered and arranged all the exams as he did. Abby explained they wouldn't see her that year though, the Headmistress would be with the Seventh Years - including Abby's older sister - in Beauxbatons for the Triwizard Tournament, someone from the Ministry had been appointed as the Acting Headmaster for the year. Elwood, who was rather young and Professor Longbottom didn't have a particularly high opinion on him, then again, Abby admitted her father was biased as he didn't like someone randomly being appointed by the Ministry over current Hogwarts staff. Although a lot of the staff were new.

History of Magic would clearly still have the ghost Binns, Abby knew for a fact Herbology would still be taught by her father and Scorpius knew for a fact that Defense Against the Dark Arts would still be taught by Professor Ashain. As far as they knew the Astronomy teacher - Professor Astor Koray - would still be there, he hadn't been one of the teachers looking to retire last year, he was only in his forties anyway. Charms, Potions and now Transfiguration would all have new teachers. Scorpius was suddenly less enthusiastic for those three subjects, he'd liked the old teachers and the change in Transfiguration especially bothered him as it had been one of his favorites along with Defense Against the Dark Arts. At least his favorite professor would still be there. Scorpius was actually looking forward to the Sorting, he'd missed his own and come in after everyone else was already sorted so he hadn't seen what it was like.

They arrived in the Great Hall and took their seats at the Gryffindor table with his friends - including Molly - as he noticed whenever Molly tried to sit down that people would rudely tell her not to sit there, it really didn't help increase his already non-existent house pride. He also noticed people pointing to him and whispering, he couldn't tell whether it was good or bad.

His palms started sweating again when he noticed Molly was sitting beside him, their hands were inches apart on the table. He shoved them into the pockets of his robes, she would think it was weird if she noticed his palms sweating for no reason and glanced instead at Michael. The muggle-born had his hand rested on his hand and looked like he wanted nothing more than to lie down to sleep, his sleeve was slightly down and Scorpius noticed bruising.

"What happened to your wrist?" Scorpius asked scowling and Michael hastily stopped resting on his hand, yanking the sleeve down to cover the bruise hastily.

"From the cast. Casts leave bruises," Michael told him and Scorpius' scowl only deepened, he knew more about muggle things than he wished he did and he was pretty sure that casts didn't leave bruises. Besides, hadn't his other wrist been broken?

"Wasn't it your other wrist that had a cast?"

"No."

"I'm sure it was the other one."

"No, it was definitely this one. You just weren't paying attention."

"I don't think casts leave bruises anyway."

"They do, okay?!" Michael snapped and Scorpius was taken aback, trying to recall an instance when his friend had lashed out at him like that before, "I'm the mudblood, I know more about muggle things and the cast left a bruise and I think I know which wrist I broke more than you do. Stop badgering me about it."

"Sorry," Scorpius muttered feeling extremely confused as were the others who knew him, Michael looked guilty.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap like that, I'm just tired. Babies don't like you to sleep, you know?" Michael explained with a nervous smile that looked forced. Scorpius just nodded, not wanting to upset Michael further.

* * *

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter, Winged-panther1 and Luc16 for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Is Orous a vampire?_**  
_No, just an albino_

**_Don't he know his family fought a war to stop that? _**  
_Yes but he was mad at Molly for getting Scorpius to come to Diagon Alley as well as still wanting Scorpius as Seeker (James asked her to let him be Seeker because they're cousins and as Captain its her decision but she refused) and wanted to get back at her. He didn't expect quite as bad a reaction as there was though_

**_Is Michael's stepfather gonna get it?_**  
_At some point in the future maybe_


	6. II: Sorting Surprise

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Who set fire to the robes? _**  
_I can't tell you that but you will find out in time_

**_Is Hermione gonna have something new to crusade about? _**  
_Yep_

**_Are Vern and Orous gonna be friends?_**  
_Maybe, wait and see_

**_ Do you want a virtual Taco?_**  
_Sure!_

**_Who set him on fire? _**  
_I can't tell you that either but you will find out later_

* * *

The conversation went back to trivial things, people were still catching up all around them. He saw James - now in non-burned robes - telling anyone who would listen about how Scorpius had 'viciously' set him on fire for absolutely no reason other than that Scorpius was an evil maniac, Professor Ashain apparently refused to believe him just because they were both related to Death Eaters so they 'obviously' conspiring against him. Scorpius balled his fists angrily again, still furious with him, he almost wished that he had set James' robes on fire.

He tried not let it get to him again though so instead he looked back to the teacher's table, seeing the lack of professors he knew was disappointing although he did recognize some faces. Abby's dad, Professor Longbottom, was talking to one of the strangers as was the Astronomy professor while Rivers seemed to be boring Professor Ashain again from the exasperated look on his tired face. Professor Trelawny wasn't there but she didn't usually eat with them anyway and Professor Hagrid would still be with the First Years, the rest were all strangers. The man sitting in the Headmaster's chair did look rather young, in his early thirties maybe and the fact he his smile made his dimples very visible didn't help much. He was clean-shaven and pale with curly bright blond hair that flopped heavily to one side and deep blue eyes, they almost looked navy even.

Scorpius sat up straighter in his seat when the side door opened and Calderon came out, he knew his face split into a smile when he saw him and Calderon cast him a wave with one of his scarred hands when he noticed him. Calderon looked as lanky as ever, still dressed in muggle clothes, jeans, sneakers and a red sweater and still wore the silver dragon necklace around his neck that Scorpius had given him last Christmas. His dark black hair remained neat and his dark eyes stuck out on his pale face. He still looked tired but not as though he was about to die of exhaustion. The dog bounding after him was new though, the huge puppy was all legs as it enthusiastically followed after Calderon with its large pink tongue lolling lazily out of its mouth. Calderon was carrying a three-legged stool that he placed at the front of the hall before moving to stand off to the side with the enthusiastic boarhound pup that sat beside him and licked his hand until he petted the thing. Scorpius longed to go over to him, maybe with all the old teachers he knew he would have risked it but so many new faces put him off.

Almost on cue the doors to the Great Hall opened and the mostly nervous-looking First Years filed in behind Professor Hagrid, gasping in amazement and gazing around at the floating candles and bewitched sky. The half-giant said something to Calderon before going over to take his seat at the staff table. The new students were all muttering amongst themselves, unsure of what they were supposed to be doing. Calderon smiled and snapped his fingers, summoning the tattered old Sorting Hat from the Headmaster's office in a blaze of light. It hovered in the air amongst swirls of light.

"That's new," Rose muttered as everyone stared at the floating hat in amazement.

"No it isn't. Calderon did that the first two years I was here, last year he was in the hospital wing so it was the way you saw it," Molly explained in a whisper before the hat started to sing.

_"Over one thousand years ago_

_Lived the Hogwarts Founders four_

_The greatest friends I ever knew_

_This castle's heart, soul and core_

_However they were very different_

_But do not think it made them weak_

_We all have both strengths and flaws_

_To make every one of us unique_

_Fiery Gryffindor was bold and brave_

_Sweet Hufflepuff, fair and kind_

_Witty Ravenclaw, wise beyond her years_

_And Slytherin has his cunning mind_

_But while they had their differences_

_One thing bound them united_

_Their desire to teach young sorcerers_

_A noble goal, albeit shortsighted_

_For this story has not a happy end_

_For those friends, the Founders four_

_Slytherin wished only the purest blood_

_"Nonsense!" declared old Gryffindor_

_And so the friends fought themselves_

_Eventually all turned against the one_

_Slytherin chose to leave the school_

_The damage could not be undone_

_The fearless four became only three_

_And would forever remain divided_

_Three walls are not as solid as four_

_So listen to me now, be guided_

_While I carry out my task today_

_Of dividing you as I am made to do_

_Forget not, while we have differences_

_We have many similarities too_

_So learn, have fun, make friends_

_But life changes like the weather_

_And divided though the houses are_

_Hogwarts stands together."_

When the hat finished its song, the hall burst into applause and Scorpius awkwardly clapped along too although he didn't want to, he couldn't help dislike the hat for putting him into the wrong house. The tattered old had bowed - or at least what Scorpius thought was a bow as it tipped itself - to each of the four tables and to the students gathered in the center. It was then Calderon's turn to speak.

"Welcome to Hogwarts, or welcome back some of you," the assistant said to the crowd with a kind smile, magically making his voice carry without seeming to do anything, "so how this works is we go alphabetically as per tradition, I'll call out your name and you come forward to sit on the stool. I'll lower the hat onto your head, the hat calls out your house and your new house table. It'll be the one cheering crazily in case you have trouble finding it, is that clear?"

"I want to go first, Marius," Corin demanded - he and Maurice were right at the front, presumably so Maurice's translation necklace was in range to understand Calderon's words - while everyone else nodded in understanding.

"Well tough luck unless you change your name to something that comes alphabetically before 'Abel' I'm afraid," Calderon pointed out and Corin's face went red with rage as he folded his arms crossly, "Abel, Malachi!"

One of the first years stumbled forward from the crowd, a short pale boy with long dark hair came up to the stool nervously and sat down. Calderon gestured and the Sorting Hat was lowered onto the little boy's head, the brim actually fell over his eyes but he could see the boy was biting his lip. A minute or so passed before the hat shouted:

_"GRYFFINDOR!"_

Malachi Abel smiled and ran over - the Sorting Hat magically flew off of his head as he ran - to join their table, Scorpius had to applaud with the others to welcome the relieved boy who sat down beside Abby. Everyone with arms length started shaking hands with him, Scorpius was less enthusiastic about that but thought it was strange. No one had shaken his hand when he'd been sorted. As the second boy was called, sorted into Ravenclaw almost the second the hat touched his head, Scorpius noticed the shaking hands thing happened to him too.

"Do we have to shake hands with all the new first years? Or is it just the first ones?" Scorpius asked of Molly as the first girl was called.

"With all of them," Molly pointed out with a weak chuckle, "I forgot you managed to miss your own sorting, this must all be new to you. Yeah though, we applause and shake hands if you're close enough. And we are, we're literally right beside the new ones."

"How do you miss your own sorting?" the new Gryffindor wondered curiously.

"Its a long story," Scorpius told him tiredly, not really feeling in the mood to talk about it - and he didn't want to miss the sorting by talking anyway, "I'll tell you later."

"Why doesn't Calderon have a list?" Rose wondered curiously, "I mean, there's no way he can remember the names of all the new students. In alphabetical order to boot."

"He's Calderon, he has a really good memory."

"Ooh wanna bet whether he can remember them all or whether they have to go get a list?" Albus offered cheerfully and made a bet with his cousin for a sickle over whether Calderon could remember them all.

Scorpius just went back to watching the sorting, there were quite a lot of As then they moved on to Bs, Cs and Ds. Calderon had yet to so much as falter on the names, his dog seemed to have decided this was boring and lay down on its master's feet to sleep. The sortings didn't seem to take that long, less than five minutes and quite a lot were done in seconds.

"Dursley, Vernon!"

Calderon called and the nervous Vern came forwards, now dressed in wizard's robes but he actually looked like he was shaking with nerves as the hat lowered itself magically onto his head. He jumped when the hat was on him - or maybe it was from the hat speaking to him - as he looked around wide-eyed as if trying to find a speaker. He heard James angrily muttering that if Vern got Gryffindor then he was going to kill the boy, Scorpius suppressed the urge to shot him a dark look and heard Albus whispering 'not Gryffindor' under his breath too.

_"HUFFLEPUFF!" _

Vern smiled weakly at the hat's decision, running over to the Hufflepuff table as the hat magically flew off his head and back into the air, Michael clapped despite being in the wrong house. Vern looked over to them from his new house and waved cheerfully, Michael gave him a thumbs up and Scorpius smiled a congratulations. Scorpius sighed remembering how he'd wanted to be in Hufflepuff, Vern was lucky. Vern was the last of the Ds, they carried on through the alphabet for awhile with no event or no one that Scorpius recognized until they got to the Ks.

"Knox, Orous!"

Scorpius sat up straighter, he hadn't known Orous' last name until then and the albino stepped forwards. Orous looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, he looked more miserable then ever as he sat down at the stool. His unusual appearance was earning him a murmuring and pointing through the crowd, Orous looked down to the side rather than at the students whose eyes were on him. He squeezed shut his crimson eyes as the hat was placed upon his snowy hair, it took a long time to decide. A minute passed. Then another. And another. They passed the five minute mark and people started whispering again. Six minutes. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten.

"Hurry up, freak!" James yelled and Calderon shot him angry look.

"Congratulations, Gryffindor begins the term twenty-five points down," Calderon informed the hall as he folded his arms, James' jaw dropped in outrage and several Gryffindors glared at him while the other houses snickered.

More time passed and Scorpius was starting to wonder if the hat was actually broken or the boy wasn't a wizard or something, he had a feeling other people were too. Some people shared James opinion and were just annoyed with the long wait, it had to be some kind of record for the longest time taken to sort someone in the history of Hogwarts. He looked at the teachers for their reaction, Rivers looked bored out his mind and seemed to be complaining to Professor Hagrid, a few people were speaking to the Acting Headmaster who looked puzzled. Professor Ashain just looked sympathetic, Scorpius realized he was right to feel that way. As inconvenient as it was for them it had to be worse for Orous, in fact Scorpius thought he saw wetness on the boy's face from tears.

_"HUFFLEPUFF!"_

The Sorting Hat screamed so abruptly that the whole school jumped and Orous was in such a hurry to be away that he knocked over the stool and tripped, falling flat on his face. Laughter ensured until Calderon shushed them and helped Orous up, Scorpius was too far away to hear what they said but Calderon had a kindly expression on his face as he spoke and Orous wiped his eyes and nodded before carrying on to the Hufflepuff table. No one applauded him, either from the laughter or the wait but no one applauded and Orous perched himself on the very edge of the table away from anyone else so even if they wanted to they couldn't have shaken his hand.

Orous buried his head in his arms while Calderon magically righted the stool, resuming calling the names. Vern looked across at Orous sympathetically, he seemed very torn before going over to sit beside the albino. Vern said something to him that was probably an introduction and Orous looked up, Vern gave him a kind smile and spoke to him. Scorpius had a lot of respect for him for that, the poor boy could probably use a friend after that, it wasn't his fault that the hat was stupid. All the names seemed to fly by after that in comparison to Orous' lengthy sorting, it wasn't long before it got to another name that Scorpius recognized.

"Maxime-Hagrid, Corin!"

Corin mouthed something that looked like 'finally' as he came up, having a short conversation with Calderon out of Scorpius' earshot before going over to the stool. Calderon gestured and the stool legs grew in length to adjust for Corin's adult height, Corin looked begrudgingly grateful as he sat down and the hat was magically lowered onto his head. Corin looked very confident in comparison to most first years, the hat didn't take long to decide for him.

_"GRYFFINDOR!"_

Corin looked like he'd had a ice cold bucket of water thrown into his face, his confidence was shattered and he looked utterly shocked as he seemed to walk over in a daze and sit down. Clearly whatever house he'd been expecting, it hadn't been Gryffindor. Professor Hagrid on the other hand was cheering louder than the whole of Gryffindor put together, he stood so abruptly to applaud that he knocked into those beside him, including Professor Ashain who cringed and rolled the shoulder.

"You seem surprised," Rose commented neutrally.

"Maurice and I thought we'd be in Ravenclaw because we're smart, am I too stupid for Ravenclaw? I have Giant blood in me and they're not exactly known for their intelligence," Corin explained and his voice cracked on the last, he looked like he was about to cry, "Maurice is going to get Ravenclaw for sure and then I'll have no real friends because everyone is only nice to me because I'm the Headmistress' son and behind my back they laugh and call me the Headmistress' giant bastard. I suck."

"Hey, it'll be okay," Michael offered gently as Corin buried his head in his hands, "Maurice hasn't even been sorted yet, he could still get Gryffindor."

"What if he doesn't?" Corin moaned looking up.

"Then deal with that bridge when you get to it, just because you're in different houses it doesn't mean you can't still be friends anyway. Maurice didn't strike me as the kind of person whose easily swayed from his loyalties, whatever and whoever they be."

"You know..." Corin began after a moment of looking thoughtful as he clapped Michael on the back, "considering you're a complete and total failure at magic, you're actually not that bad, Marco."

"Michael. Is it really so hard to remember Michael?" Michael whispered tiredly and the conversation dwindled and they went back to watching the sorting, there were quite a lot of Ms before a name caught his attention.

"Nott, Olivia!"

She shared a resemblance to her older brothers, a blue-eyed brunette like them only with longer hair and more feminine looking. She looked cheerful as she skipped over to the stool that had been shorted back to its originally height after Corin was sorted, it wasn't difficult to guess what house she was in. Sure enough, it took only seconds for the hat to decide.

_"SLYTHERIN!"_

Her smile widened and she skipped over to the Slytherin table to a thunderous applause led by her brothers, especially the elder Kyle. Scorpius didn't like either of the Nott boys, the now-fifth year Kyle was the Slytherin Seeker and a cheat and... Maximus? Scorpius thought his first name was - although he just tended to think of him as 'Nott' - was a bully in their year. He went back to not recognizing names for awhile, Corin was getting increasingly frustrated with every name called that wasn't Maurice's after they got to the Rs.

"Rivers, Maurice!"

"Finally," Corin complained before biting his lip nervously.

Maurice had stayed near the front with his end on his necklace for the entire turn, he let go of it to approach the stool and calmly sat down. His expression was completely neutral as the hat was placed on his head, if he was nervous about which house he would get then it didn't show on his face at all. The hat took a good deal longer to decide than Corin, it was exactly five minutes before the hat made up its mind.

_"GRYFFINDOR!"_

Scorpius sure whether the hat spoke it into his mind or whether he just noticed which table cheered but Maurice understood his house, walking over with perfect calm without a hint of emotion to give away whether he was pleased to make Gryffindor or disappointed to not make Ravenclaw. Corin was clapping the hardest of everyone and cheering with a ferocity to rival his father's, the noise of which the deaf Maurice would be oblivious to as he took a seat beside his friend. Corin was beaming, Rose didn't look pleased though and Scorpius recalled the incident with Maurice from last year, clearly Rose remembered.

The Rs and Ss passed quite slowly, they just happened to be popular letters for last names as was the Ts. The only other person Scorpius even half knew was the younger brother of one of the other Gryffindor boys in his year, Rohan Tear joined his brother in Gryffindor much to Reuben's delight. After T, the letters passed by quite quickly, the numbers had dwindled massively. The final person was a boy named Blaine Zabini who was put into Slytherin, the sorting was finally over. Rose groaned and handed over a sickle to Albus as Calderon had managed to get every name correct, the assistant clapped and both stool and hat vanished in a whirl of lights.

"Lucy should have been here," Molly whispered sadly as the Acting Headmaster stood up to speak, clearing his throat and the crowd fell silent.

"Greetings everyone! I am Silvanus Elwood," Elwood introduced himself brightly, "I have been appointed by the Ministry to act as Headmaster while Headmistress McGonagall is away at Beauxbatons with the Seventh Years for the Triwizard tournament, I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing the Hogwarts Champion luck. I-"

Whatever Elwood was going to say was cut off as an explosion erupted from the center of the room, the hall vibrated as smoke and debris was thrown into the air. Scorpius had to grab the table to steady himself as did everyone else around him, Elwood had been knocked back into his chair from the force and Calderon - who had been standing nowhere near a table or chair - was thrown against the wall.

It was only then that he noticed a group of seven standing in the center of the hall, dressed in black clothes with black cloaks with a symbol on the cloaks that he recognized. A crimson snake's skeleton, coiled around itself in a figure eight with its forked tongue sticking out at them. It was moving on the cloaks. They were Shadows. They were also wearing red skull masks to hide their faces.

They didn't waste a second of time as they launched an attack on the staff, Professors Ashain and Longbottom were the only ones fast enough to put up a defense. Scorpius thought them both being former Aurors probably had something to do with it. The others weren't so lucky, those closest to the Professors' shields were alright and Professor Hagrid must've been incredibly resilient but the others were taken off guard and tossed backwards like rag dolls from the explosive spells. Most were nurses injuries of various severity and some weren't even moving at all, he hoped they were just unconscious.

The seven didn't stop just because they'd caused damage, they continued firing spells at the teachers who were now trying to defend themselves against the onslaught. Scorpius didn't know whether the Shadows were just talented duelists or if it was because the teachers fighting were mostly injured but the teachers seemed to be losing, despite having superior numbers. Rivers fled into the door off to the side and Calderon flung his hands out, shifting the tables onto their sides and over to the wall without hitting any of them to barricade them.

"GET BEHIND THEM!" Calderon yelled over the sound of spells being yelled and magic being used.

Most people didn't need to be told twice, a few seemed too stunned or scared to move and others - he noticed Hal especially - and their friends having to get them to move. Scorpius didn't blame them, Hogwarts was supposed to safe! How had they even gotten in?! Hadn't the Aurors replaced the protective enchantments? The Aurors... He recalled his conversation with Varanian, had the Shadow Auror sabotaged it somehow? Were more involved? He tried to shove his thoughts aside, he could worry about it if he lived long enough.

He started to move though the lead Shadow laughed and raised his wand, shadowy shapes appeared in the air and for a second Scorpius thought they were Specters but even as the lead man was shot down by Professors Longbottom and Ashain at the same time they formed into... something else. They were humanoid in shape, taller than a man but not as tall as Professor Hagrid and wore ripped, ragged black cloaks that covered even their faces. Their almost decayed hands stuck out though, scabbed and slimy looking fingers stretched out. Scorpius felt as though the room had suddenly gotten infinitely colder, he could see his breath before his face it was so cold and his scarred wrist fell like it was encased in ice.

_"Scorpius... Come to me... Scorpius."_

Scorpius was suddenly filled with the same sensation was back as Diagon Alley, the dueling, the fleeing to the barricades just melted out of his mind as he stared at the... thing. It hadn't seemed to have spoken, its cloak still covered its face but Scorpius couldn't look away, he couldn't blink and it was beckoning him. His legs shook and threaten to collapse, he was so tired, so weak but his drooping eyelids kept on the creature as he started to slowly drag his feet towards it. Maybe if he could reach it then he could finally sleep?

Something silvery struck the creature and his trance was broken, Scorpius felt like he'd been kicked in the stomach as he fell to his knees shivering violently against the cold. Hands were grabbing him and pulling him to his feet, ushering him in the direction of the barricade tables, he realized it was Maurice, Corin and Molly. He was barely aware of that though, he could never be happy again, memories of Marvin were flooding his mind so much he could no longer think. He wanted to cry and scream for it to stop, he had no idea if he had done either or not as collapsed on the safe side of the barrier, unconsciousness blissfully took him and the memories stopped.


	7. II: The Silver Dragon

_**To Diddleymaz:** dark chapter warning_

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter and Aya Diefair for reviewing! And thank you for liking the Sorting Hat song, I spent ages on that was worried about it  
_

**_Why is James in Gryffindor?_**  
_Because I put him there, I thought from the epilogue that he was probably in Gryffindor (it'd be weird if he was teasing Albus about Slytherin if he was one and he didn't seem very Ravenclawy or Hufflepuffy). I do actually have a list of the traits for each of the houses and for the next generation characters and any OCs that attend/ed Hogwarts I marked what traits they had for each house, worked out each percentage to make sure they fit the house I put them in, its not just randomly done. Although about James, there really was only a few percent difference between Gryffindor and Slytherin, he was one of the closest_

**_Gee the shadows really want Scorpius, don't they?_**  
_Yup_

* * *

Atticus Ashain's brief moment of relief that the sorting was over and they could finally eat was shattered by the explosion, the figures appeared. His years as an Auror spared him as ingrained instinct took over, almost before he realized what he was doing he was casting a Shield Charm as was Neville. Those closest to them were protected by the shields but the others were hit badly, the spells used were brute force and threw them backwards against the wall.

He didn't have time to dwell on them though as the figures continued firing spells towards them, he was on his feet fighting back and moving around the table so his movements weren't even more constricted by chairs and tables. Although he did notice Rivers fleeing through the door near the side, if he hadn't been too busy focusing he would have rolled his eyes in disgust. But he did have to focus, the Shadows weren't exactly unskilled and every time he cast a spell he the pain intensified, he felt like he was on fire. In a bad way.

He had to push through the pain. He couldn't stop, he was one of the few managing to hold his own against the onslaught of spells. He didn't even know what the spells he was deflecting were, neither vocalized a spell, it was just one jet of light smashing into a shield after another. The mask hid his enemies face so he didn't even have that to go on, the man - or possibly woman? - did seem to be an experienced duelist though, exceedingly fast with attack or defense as well as being light on their feet which gave them an advantage, Atticus' wounds were slowing him down although he was matching the speed of the spells and using nonverbal magic to not lose the one advantage he had. From the cries of spells, most of the other staff were saying them aloud while the attackers said nothing and he could hear a dog barking.

"GET BEHIND THEM!" a voice that sounded like Calderon yelled over the chaos

He risked a flicker of a glance beyond his opponent, the assistant's arms were out and the house tables were now being used as barricades to protect the students. That was good. The students were the most important thing to protect, really it was good that none of them were going after the children. No sooner had he thought that the lead attacker blasted Elwood back with a particularly violent spell, he heard the man scream but didn't risk seeing what had happened to him as the lead man - or woman - raised his - or her - wand and shadowy shapes started to appear in the air.

In panic he thought they were Specters and risked getting cursed to launch a spell at the man, Neville seemed to have the same idea as both collided with the attacker almost at the same time and he was thrown violently back to where he lay on the ground unmoving. His opponent hadn't stopped attacking him while he cursed the other enemy, he tried to jerk his head out of the way of the red jet of light but it still tore though his cheek, it stung painfully and he felt blood oozing from the wound but it paid it no mind, it wasn't half as bad as the pain in his torso and he was managing to push through that.

They'd been too late to stop the lead man's spell though, the shadowy shapes solidified. Not into Specters though, but _Dementors_. They started going after the students, except one that remained and gestured with its long scabby fingers as if beckoning someone. He started to think how stupid it was, no one would willing towards one of those things but then he realized to his horror that someone actually was for some bizarre reason, Scorpius was walking towards it. He moved to cast a patronus but was forced to cast another Shield Charm instead to defend himself, his opponent wasn't going to give him a break.

Neville again seemed to think along the same lines as him as he cast a Patronus, Atticus was only watching out of the corner of his eye as he launched a counter spell at his own opponent but he saw a flash of light that knocked the Dementor away from Scorpius, oddly enough the boy fell to his feet but others were pulling him back towards the barrier. He was more concerned with Neville, breaking away to cast a Patrnous had cost him dearly and he wasn't so lucky at being able to avoid the fiery curse that smashed into his wand arm.

Atticus was way off to the right with Neville more centrally to the left of him so he wasn't quite sure what had happened but Neville cried out and fell to his knees, clutching at his left shoulder and his Patronus vanished immediately. A flash of horizontal lightning tore through the air and sped towards Neville's attacker, hitting him directly in the center of his chest and jolting out his - or her - back. The attacker fell to the ground and Atticus was sure he hadn't survived.

"I didn't mean to do that!" Calderon cried in horror and Atticus risked a glance as he put up another Shield Charm, the assistant was clutching his fists to his chest and gazing anxiously at the battle and the Dementors, his eyes darting around as if trying to take in everything at once... None of the people were attacking him.

"Calderon!" Atticus called out but turned his eyes back to his opponent in time to deflect another curse before his distraction could be used to his advantage again, "do something about the Dementors! You have to protect the students!"

"I can't, you fight Dementors!"

"Yes you can! Cast a Patronus, fight them off!"

"But I can't cast a Patronus!"

"Yes you can!" Atticus protested although yelling was making his insides burn more, if Calderon could fight off Specters and Specters were fought off by Patronuses like Dementors then logically he could fight off Dementors... right? He hoped so, it wouldn't matter much if they fought off the attackers if the students had all been kissed and even if he did cast a Patronus it would vanish and be useless the second his opponent picked him off for being distracted like Neville, "just think of a happy memory, powerful happy memory and just... magic it out! I know Dementors terrify you but if you don't do this then the students could die or worse! At least try!"

Calderon gave no reply and for a minute Atticus thought he hadn't listened, he was trying to think of some other way to convince him or wondering if a Shield Charm could hold off his opponent long enough to cast a Patronus to protect the students himself. He didn't think so, his shield defected a fiery spell but his opponent had already fired another before it had scorched the wall. It didn't help his strength was burning out, he was exhausted despite only having been dueling for a few minutes, his energy was ebbing away with every spell. His healers had probably been completely right to advise him to not use too much magic until he healed, his wounds felt like they were tearing him in half.

To his surprise though his opponent was the one who hesitated next and Atticus spared a glance in the direction the skull masked man - or woman - had looked. Calderon had climbed onto the staff table and a silver light looked like it was being pulled from his body, he had a look of intense concentration on his face as the huge silver wisps were dragged out of him in a shape. A shape of a scaly head and a second later the head shot forward and the massive silvery body followed so fast that Atticus nearly jumped.

Calderon had cast a Patronus. It was by far the largest Patronus that Atticus had ever seen as well as one of the most unique, it was a dragon. Calderon's Patronus was a dragon. The huge silvery beast roared as it sped through the hall, swiping and biting at the Dementors that were batted away like flies, it breathed wispy silver flames at them too. The entire battle stopped for a moment for jaws to drop, Calderon's maniacal laughter broke the silence. How the assistant managed to laugh several pitches higher than his actual voice, Atticus had no idea but the demented shrill hysterical laughter echoed around them. He just laughed and laughed. And laughed. _Does he actually realize we're in mortal peril or... what?_ he wondered to himself.

Atticus' opponent seemed frustrated with this and threw a curse in the assistant's direction, Atticus threw a stunner that hit them unchallenged and took the man - or woman - down but it didn't stop the spell from cutting through Calderon's shoulder. This just made Calderon laugh more as he threw up his hands and his familiar yellow light shot up from everywhere, so bright that Atticus couldn't see anything, he had to close his eyes or be blinded. When the light faded he opened his eyes and blinked, the attackers - except the one he thought was dead - were all gone. Calderon stopped laughing and looked puzzled.

"Where did they all go?" Calderon wondered and Atticus shrugged but regretted the wave of pain it caused. If Calderon hadn't... vaporized them or... banished them? Or whatever then he had no idea. And he really felt to drained and in pain to properly care.

There was a moment of awkward silence, the Dementors had been driven off by the Patronus and the attackers had... gone. The students remained behind the barriers were not talking amongst themselves in panic. Calderon's dragon continued circling the hall. Most staff were unmoving on the ground or nursing injuries, a few were still standing like him and Calderon but showed signs of the fight, sleeves torn and small bleeding cuts. They were all taking in the scene. A few students ran towards the adults... Michael? was going around the injured, Neville's kids were gathering around him. Things needed to be done. Calderon whistled a piercing whistle, Atticus winced at how high-pitched it was but it successfully drew everyone's attention. Calderon looked completely serious.

"Alright, here's what's going to happen," Calderon said, making his voice magically carry, "you're going to go to your Common Rooms with a teacher to escort you to make sure you get there safely. Professor Hagrid take Gryffindor, Professor Koray take Ravenclaw, Professor Vipera take Slytherin and Professor Dunbrooke take Hufflepuff. Then the professors will return here and you are to remain in your Common Rooms and not leave for any reason, you'll be told more when we have more news, leave any students who are unconscious or injured as they will be seen to as Professor Fintan is going to get the healers. Now."

No one questioned Calderon or disagreed with his decision, regardless of his position. He'd chosen the professors who looked the least injured - well Hagrid looked rough but being a giant made him resilient - except for him and Calderon the rest weren't standing or present. It was over and the adrenaline rush was fading, the pain remained and Atticus' legs felt like they were going to give way. He staggered to get towards the scorched wall, leaning heavily against it for support as everything swirled dizzily. He felt like he was going to pass out, he closed his eyes and tried to breathe through it awkwardly, he knew his breathing was erratic at best but he hoped that as he was no longer magic that the pain and weakness would recede or he actually pass out. He was right though, he wasn't sure how much time passed before it became bearable enough to open his eyes and pay attention to the world around him again.

He hadn't even noticed the healers arriving but they were there as were the four teachers who'd left and almost all of the students were gone, the only ones left were mostly sitting and being handed chocolate to deal with the Dementors effects. Scorpius was amongst them with Albus and Rose beside him, as was the Orous boy and a handful of older students. Neville's kids were still frantically hovering around their dad as one of the new healers saw to him, tending to his arm... or rather the stump where his arm had used to be. Atticus felt sick.

"He's got a broken arm and that gash to abdomen looks nasty but its not deep enough to touch the internal organs, " Michael was saying about the new Muggle Studies professor, the healer shot him a dark look.

"I don't need to hear the silly suspicions of a first year," the new healer said stiffly as he saw to the man.

"I'm a second year."

"I don't care," the healer snapped and went back to seeing to the man, "alright so he has a fractured arm and a laceration to the abdomen, no vital organs have been hit."

"I told you."

"Shut up! Some of us are trying to work. Make yourself useful and get out of my light."

"Are you alright, Ticcy?" Calderon asked from behind and Atticus jumped, wincing at the pain it caused.

"Sure. Mostly. It can wait," Atticus offered and regretted speaking as the silver dragon landed in front of them, folding its massive wings and looking at Calderon with huge silver eyes the size of the assistant's head, "is that thing still here."

"Yes. I like it," Calderon pointed out and smiled at the Patronus, "evil people can't cast Patronuses but I cast a Patronus so it means I'm not evil. I'm _not_ evil. Isn't that great?"

"Erm... Why would you think that you were?" Atticus wondered puzzled, Calderon was some between slightly eccentric and completely insane definitely but he'd never struck him as a bad person. Calderon lost his smile and shrugged before rubbing his forearm.

"Because of my parents, I guess. Make sure you do get seen too, the cut on your face looks pretty nasty."

"You too," Atticus commented nodding to the darker colored fabric around the assistant's shoulder, Calderon blinked in surprise before laughing shrilly again.

"I had actually _forgotten_ about that!" Calderon explained with an odd cheerfulness before he was called over.

One of the Healers who seemed to be in charge was giving him a report while the severely injured teachers were brought to the hospital wing and Neville must have insisted on his kids not coming because they looked sad as they stayed unmoving while their father was magically carried away on a stretcher. Glumly he realized that all that wasn't going to help improve Skye's views on magic any, he would have sighed if he'd had the energy. One teacher must have died, he realized, as there were two bodies that been moved to one side and covered by black blankets.

"Alright, Ruby, can you make sure these students all get back to their dormitories," Calderon said just as Rivers returned, Harry Potter leading over two dozen Aurors in tow as they went up to them. Rivers must've went to get help, Atticus realized, not a completely selfish coward then.

Albus and Rose ran to their fathers and Atticus missed his children, Harry and Ron hugged their children and said a few quick words before dismissing them to be dropped off with Hagrid. It was only after _all_ the students had left that Harry asked what had happened, Calderon filled them in and Atticus half listened. He only decided to leave the safety of the wall when Calderon had finished, he felt as though he was walking across a trampoline and it hurt to move but he managed the short distance to reach them.

"I have no idea what happened to the attackers but they were Shadows from the symbols on their capes," Calderon was saying, "it should have knocked them out."

"Are you sure you didn't do anything?" one of the Aurors... Rooke,was it? wondered.

"Yes. Whatever happened to them I didn't do it. What's going to happen?"

"Well this is worrying," Harry said scratching his jaw and looking anxious before turning to the Aurors and telling all but Ron and Rooke to search the castle and grounds for any sign of them and another one went to get the Minister for Magic himself as it was over his head, "how did they get past the defenses we put in place? Why were they even attacking?"

"And how the bloody hell did they _summon_ Dementors like that?!" Ron added.

"I have no idea," Calderon admitted.

The Aurors and the handful of teachers still there discussed theories while they waited for the Minister to arrive, Atticus listened but his mind was too drained to contribute anything. He did think each theory was more ludicrous than the last, they had wanted to possess the students last year - or rather earlier in the year - to build an army but this time they had just attacked the teachers and set Dementors on the students. That wouldn't really help unless they had expected to kill all the staff to leave the students vulnerable, Atticus didn't agree with that. It was a stupid plan, maybe if they'd sent an army but _seven_ people? No matter how skilled, they had to have realized it was futile, especially considering Calderon would be there. The Shadow Master may be evil but he didn't strike Atticus as stupid, the attacks were very coordinated and well thought out, none of them had been caught. Either the Shadow Master was losing his touch or they'd attacked for another reason, something specific. Or at least that's what Atticus thought. He could be wrong he supposed, he wasn't in the most clear frame of mind.

Exhausting ideas they moved over to the dead, hoping to identifying the dead man and Calderon magicked off the blanket off one before removing the mask and they startled in shock. The man - or woman? - had unhealthy completely gray skin but that wasn't what was most shocking, the eyes, mouth and nose were gone. There was just a blank empty lumpy face devoid of features. There wasn't a hair on his - or her - head either.

"What the...?" Ron muttered.

"Ooh I read about this!" Rivers exclaimed excitedly, "in some Magical Tribal cultures they used to create these special masks to wear while they attacked their enemies to hide their identity so the victims wouldn't know which tribe had attacked them, the best part was that they were enchanted so that if one of them died wearing the mask then it would absolve the wearer of their features so the enemy couldn't identify the attacker and seek revenge on the dead one's family or tribe."

"It doesn't look very tribally," Calderon pointed out and Rivers rolled his eyes.

"Obviously, Assistant, I wasn't suggesting they were using relics but they could have figured out how to create them from ones they stole - and I read the papers, I know they stole some - and created their own."

"How do we reverse it and find out who this person was?" Harry asked, Rivers huffed indignantly in reply.

"How am I supposed to know? I'm not the expert. And I'm not doing your job for you. I was under the impression there was no way but then again people in the past were pretty stupid so maybe they just didn't figure it out."

They were spared from hearing any more of Rivers as the Minister for Magic arrived, flanked by two high-ranking looking officials and several Aurors. Kingsley looked noticeably weaker than he had at the memorial, apparently he'd been cursed in the back and as a result he suffered from some problems from spinal damage, one of which being that he now needed a cane and walked much slower. It saddened Atticus, he'd known him since his Auror training and it was strange to see him looking so haggard and aged from the ordeal. Calderon jerkily bowed for no apparent reason and the dog wagged its tail excitedly the movement.

"I've been told what happened," Kingsley said projecting calm with his voice although Atticus was sure he was just as shaken as they all were.

"So err... Master Sir Mr King Minister, what's going to happen?" Calderon asked again nervously and Kingsley smiled weakly and held up his palm.

"Kingsley is fine."

"Kingsley..." Calderon offered hesitantly and paused slightly, looking at Kingsley as if expecting him to change his mind and suddenly lash out at him, "so what's going to happen? Are the students being sent home? Is the school being closed?"

"You can't close the school!" Rivers shrieked in panic.

"I wasn't planning on it," Kingsley pointed out and Rivers relaxed visibly, "but protective measures will be put in place to protect the students, how many Aurors can you spare to guard Hogwarts, Harry?"

"As many as we need, my sons are here and the safety of our children is more important than anything," Harry said firmly but Calderon looked concerned.

"Elwood is seriously injured, he's in no condition to act as Headmaster for the time being, they're not even sure he'll survive," Calderon told them, "Minerva has to stay in Beauxbatons with the seventh years and the Deputy Headmaster is also seriously injured and in no condition to... headmaster anything. How can you be thinking of keeping the school open without someone leading it? And most all of the staff are injured to some degree, some are okay to teach but some aren't, one died. So not in much condition to take over and Elwood's been here two months and still didn't really have the hang of things. You need someone now, you need someone to act as headmaster and since there's no one the school can't be open you need to coordinate your arrangement of Aurors with someone in charge too, patrols worked out, best places for them to be and to coincide with the schedules. And the schedules need to be rearranged tonight if they're to have classes, substitutes worked out and-"

"Don't you do all of that stuff anyway?" Atticus wondered and Calderon jumped.

"Well yes. But I do it _for_ the Headmaster, Headmistress or Acting Headmaster. They make the final decisions and approve everything, I just... assist."

"Well now you don't need that, you can be the Acting Headmaster," Kingsley offered and lights flashed around Calderon as he looked panicked.

"No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no! I can't be the Acting Headmaster_._"

"I have the utmost faith in you."

"But I'm just an assistant! There's two kinds of people in life, the people who are masters and lead others and then there's the other people and I'm the other people. You can't put me in charge of a school!"

"I just did."

"But... But I'm, I'm _me_! I just... can't! I'm not... not a person like other people, I can't, I'm not even sane! I'm a madman, ask anyone. I can't, I'm not..." Calderon rambled losing them all as he gripped a chunk of hair in either hand.

"Do you want the school to be closed down?" Harry asked him.

"No!"

"Then do it, you know the running of the school better than anyone whose not a former Headmaster. You took charge today and you defeated the Shadows again, if anyone can keep the school safe then you can. A wise man once told me that the best leaders are those who have power thrust upon them, rather than those who go looking for it."

"But I don't _want_ to run the school, I _can't_," Calderon protested miserably, "damn it Ticcy, why did you have to say that?!"

"It would only be temporary anyway if you wished, please?" Kingsley added and Calderon let go of his hair, making it stick up and look even crazier. Calderon looked incredibly thoughtful for a moment before sighing heavily.

"Fine. I'll do it. But just you wait, I'll fail, you'll see."

"Sure. Now let's discuss the Aurors arrangements."


	8. II: Clustered Common Room

Scorpius was in a daze, he was barely aware as he woke up. People he should've known the names of where saying words he should have known the meaning of but it barely registered, it was hard to think, he felt as though there was a block of ice where his brain should be. He was so cold, different to being plunged into the lake or battered by wind, it wasn't as though the cold was around him, the cold was _inside_ him. He was aware of every heart beat and everyone just seemed to pump freezing water instead of blood through him, he felt numb.

He just sat there - where there was - shivering, he didn't have the strength to think of moving let alone move. Vaguely he was aware of someone pushing something into his surprisingly unfrozen fingers, a phrase that bore some resemblance to the word 'eat' was repeated constantly. Someone moved his hand to his mouth and he nibbled the edge of the substance in his hands, not knowing or caring what it was. He felt warmth immediately flood his body, banishing the cold and spreading to the very tips of his fingers and edges of his toes. He took a much bigger bite to stop the cold from returning and ate the substance, it took a few minutes to realize it was chocolate. Had chocolate always been like that? Or was it just a special kind of chocolate or altered by magic?

He was only starting to become aware of everything again when he was being pulled to his feet and ushered to leave with a random assortment of students, he just walked along with them as they carried on saying words that were sounding more familiar. No one said anything, everyone seemed too shaken to speak, not that Scorpius could blame them. They walked to the Dungeons and left some of the students by the entrance to the Slytherin Common Rooms, he recognized Abby hug her brother goodbye before the rest of the group carried on. Meandering to the entrance to the Hufflepuff Common Rooms and leaving more students there, he recognized the albino Orous as one of them, he kept rubbing his wrist oddly. They dropped off the Ravenclaws next, none of whom he knew by name and then it was just them following Professor Hagrid back to Gryffindor Tower.

The professor made assurances everything would be fine but the words sounded as hollow as an echo fading into the night, they went inside and Scorpius saw the Common Room was so crowded he wondered if there was even any room for them although the absence of the seventh years helped lessen the numbers a bit. There was just a mass of bodies, wide-eyed and fearful, some were talking amongst themselves and others weren't talking at all. There wasn't really anywhere to sit so he sat on the steps to the dormitory, almost going up there but he didn't want to miss out on any news so he sat and his friends sat around him.

"Do you think my dad's going to be okay?" Abby asked worriedly, she sounded on the verge of tears.

"Sure," Michael brushed it off and actually managed to inject his usual cheerfulness into his voice, the smile left his hazel eyes untouched though.

"But... his _arm_," Abby breathed and Scorpius would have scowled if he had the strength, what had happened to her dad's arm? What had he missed?

"He may have lost his arm but he survived and the healers are treating him, they got to him in time so he should be fine."

"Except for having no arm."

"It was his wand arm too," Albus pointed out and it seemed too much for Abby who burst into tears, the others spent a long time comforting her.

He was lost in his thoughts, the attack played over and over in his mind. If he had had any reservations about Varanian's words before, he didn't then, that... _thing_ had been after him, just like the possessed had been in Diagon Alley. And just like in Diagon Alley, he had gone _towards_ the disturbing thing that wanted to kill him or take his soul or whatever they intended on doing to him. He was scared.

"Hey!" James barked as if on cue and Scorpius looked up to see the bully fighting his way through the crowd to him, his face was red with anger, "yes you! Malfoy, you psychotic evil spawn of scum! This is all your fault!"

"What?!" Scorpius managed to utter in outrage and surprise.

"You heard me! You're risking everyone's lives just by being here, this whole thing is your fault! The Shadows are after you! Not us, not any of the teachers, _you!_ First Diagon Alley and now here at Hogwarts! You're endangering everyone's lives, what the hell is wrong with you?!" James was yelling now, far louder than anyone in the room had been speaking and all other conversations had stopped, the whole of Gryffindor house was watching them, "if you had any shred of common decency or sense then you wouldn't be here! You wouldn't have come here in the first place, you would leave now because we're all in danger because of you! Our lives are at risk because of you! If anywhere in the small gnarly black decrepit lump of stone that you have for a heart there was a speck of goodness then you would leave so that we'd be safe!"

"How can you even say that?!" a voice cried out and Scorpius expected it to be his own but it was Michael who'd jumped to his defense.

"You heard me, Dragon-breath! If the Shadows had just taken him in Diagon Alley then none of this would have happened, we should just give them what they want!"

"Oh yeah because giving evil psychos what they want is always the right thing to do!" Michael commented sarcastically, on his feet and strategically positioning himself between James and Scorpius, James' fists clenched, "besides there's no proof they were after Scorpius! They didn't make any demands, they attacked the _teachers_ not us! Just because Scorpius was near those things doesn't mean they were after him or want him, _everyone_ was near those things, its not his fault so lay off him!"

"They're called Dementors you bloody idiot! Evil creatures that _my_ father fought in a war that he won when he defeated the Greatest Evil Wizard of all time! What has your father done lately? Oh yeah, nothing because he's just a flaky scumbag criminal muggle."

"What? Attacking Jack just because your arguments are so weak that you can't defend your completely unfair reasoning?" Michael retorted although he had a feeling the James' jab had hurt him nonetheless.

"No!" James screamed and seemed to realize this wasn't a good enough comeback, "giving the Shadows what they want is the smart thing! Its only Malfoy, there's more lives at stake!"

"Assuming you're insane theory is correct, so what? We just give the Shadows _everything_ they want? That's definitely going to stop them!" Michael quipped using sarcasm again, "there where does it end? Why not let them take over the school next time? Why not give them control over the Ministry while we're at at? Oh yeah, why not offer up some towns for them to slaughter just to sweeten the deal, they'll be so grateful they'll just give up and go home and the world will be saved! Great plan, genius!"

"That's not what I meant and you know it! You're just twisting everything because you're your friends with the psycho!"

"You're just twisting everything because you hate Scorpius! What if they want you? What if they want your friends, cousins or brother? Would you still give them what they wanted then?!"

"Of course not!"

"See, you're a hypocrite," Michael told him, making a visible effort to reign in the volume of his voice as he folded his arms and Scorpius noticed a lot of people in the crowd were actually nodding in agreement at this. James seemed to notice this too as he looked livid.

"No, I right! I'm not a hypocrite! I'm only trying to save us all! I'm Harry Potter's son and you're nothing."

"You're a coward!"

James lashed out so fast that no one had time to react, he didn't whip out his wand - wasn't much space too with the throng of people - instead he swung his fist that collided with Michael's face with a loud thud. The nearest to James pulled him back before he could do anything else while Michael was knocked off balance and staggered but managed to right himself, when he turned back to James he was squinting with his left eye as if it was troubling him. And he was laughing. It sounded more unhinged than Calderon's considering the situation.

"Merlin's light, his eye!" Molly gasped and put her hand over her mouth.

"What?" Albus wondered, looking extremely uncomfortable at the discord between his brother and his friend. Molly blinked a few times in surprise.

"Sorry, I'm just going mad I think, thought I saw something."

"Oh no, you hit me! I've never been hit before in my life, you must be so brave and strong to hit someone younger and weaker than yourself! That must mean I was wrong about everything and you were right!" Michael yelled sarcastically when his laughter died, "you're pathetic! Do whatever you want to me, it doesn't make what I've said any less true and deep down in the... what was it you said? If anywhere in the small gnarly black decrepit lump of stone that you have for a heart there was a speck of goodness then you would realize that!"

"Well say what you want, everyone agrees with me!" James snapped and people noticeably stepped away from him.

"No we don't," Freddie Weasley scoffed, still managing to make orange dreadlocks look cool, "sorry cuz but I don't think the Shadows were after him and even if they were, that's no excuse to give him up or kick him out of the school, I wouldn't do that to anyone. Not even Tanner. And you know how much I hate Tanner."

"I'm you," one of James' cronies offered but most people were murmuring their support for Freddie and Michael, James looked outraged.

"Think you lost whatever credibility you had when you hit the first year, mate," someone else pointed out as James freed his arms from the student's grasps.

"I'm a second year!" Michael protested.

Any further discussion however was ended by a small pop and the arrival of several of the house-elves from the kitchens bringing plates of food. It was probably the first time in Hogwarts history that the Welcoming Feast had been canceled but they still had to eat, the house-elves had been told to divide up the food into four and bring it to the students in their houses. They made a huge buffet of food and another buffet of deserts, they stacked plates and cutlery for the Gryffindors to use. The house-elves encouraged them to eat some chocolate from the desert table at some point - even if they ate nothing else - and left after telling them they had no more news, aside from the facts that the staff and Aurors were working on it, they assured them they were safe and managed to sound more convincing than Professor Hagrid had before leaving.

Scorpius didn't feel much like eating but predictably Michael brought him over a heaped plate of food for him to eat and a second plate chocked full of chocolate, although that was to share because everyone was going for anything chocolate at the house-elves' suggestion. Only after they were all eating did Michael get his own food but had devoured it as if he hadn't eaten before and had gone for seconds before any of them had finished theirs, in fact he was on thirds by the time they'd finished theirs. It was delicious despite everything but Scorpius found it hard to swallow, what if James was right? Was he putting everyone's lives at risk by being there? How desperate were the Shadows to get him?

"Do you think our dads are going to come say hi to us or just leave without saying goodbye?" Albus wondered thoughtfully after returning with a plate of non-chocolate deserts for himself while Rose had a second plate of proper food, she shrugged.

"Your dads?" Scorpius wondered and was filled in on what had happened after he lost consciousness, including Calderon's silver dragon, "wow. Just... wow."

"Well Dumbledore's Patronus was a phoenix so they can be more magical creatures than pigs and bunnies."

"In the past someone had a giant for a Patronus too," Rose added, "but Calderon's dragon was still impressive."

"Yeah, it was awesome. I hope my Patronus is a dragon or at least something cool."

"What's a Patronus?" Michael inquired after swallowing his mouthful of food but Rose didn't seem to notice as she spoke as if he'd said nothing.

"I hope mine is an intelligent animal like a dolphin or a chimpanzee. What about you Abby?"

"I don't know..." Abby sighed disinterestedly, her dad's injury clearly on her mind, "something cute like a bunny or a baby seal. What does it matter? My dad just lost his arm."

"Sorry," Albus muttered glumly.

"Do you think they're going to close the school?" Scorpius asked and Michael nearly choked on his ham.

"They-They wouldn't close the school would they?" Michael wondered trying and failing to keep the fear out of his voice, "I mean last year most everyone got possessed and they didn't close it then."

"Well they might if they think its dangerous enough," Abby offered and Michael's face lost all color, "dad said they nearly closed the school in his second year with the Basilisk attacks."

"But they can't do that! What-What about all the students? Where will we learn magic?"

"Parents will teach I guess but I wouldn't worry about it."

"How can I not worry about it?!" Michael burst out looking close to tears, "its alright for you guys, you have magical parents who can teach you and you have nice families anyway. They-They can't possibly think we'd be better off at home?"

"Well obviously," Albus offered and Michael shoved aside his plate miserably.

"I don't think they will," Rose spoke up, "magical education is important and they did actually fight off the attackers and Dementors, with the Shadows its not like homes are that safe anymore anyway. Although I reckon when word gets out about this that there'll be plenty of people who get pulled out of school if their parents think its too dangerous but it'll probably stay open, I hope so. I am dying to get cracking this year. Despite everything that just happened tonight."

"Well my dad's a teacher so I'm staying either way," Abby said with a shrug and a sad look, "besides, its not like home is safer after all the Leaky Cauldron was attacked last year. Is anywhere safe anymore?"

No one answered her.

The time seemed to drag by after the meal was finished. Usually after eating they would all go to bed but everyone was uncertain and unsure, all around them the same conversations to them were being heard but by different voices. People were talking about what was going to happen, what they were supposed to do, the fate of the school, the fate of the teachers, why the Shadows had attacked, how they'd broken through the defenses... they talked but no one had any answers, even after the house-elves magicked away the leftovers and dishes they had no more answers for them. Scorpius was thankful the discussion was off him and that James was staying away, he was considering asking Albus if they should use the cloak to investigate what was happening before adults finally arrived.

Professor Hagrid - looking in slightly better condition than he had been in earlier - was there along with Rose and Albus' dads, they told the students that the situation had been dealt with and were advised to go to bed and go on down to the Great Hall for breakfast in the morning as usual as things were being arranged so they could still have classes. More would be explained then.

The crowd universally decided to disperse then, heading to their dormitories for sleep with the exception of James, Albus and Rose who went over to their dads. Scorpius and Michael decided to just leave them be and headed back up to the dormitory, the room virtually identical to last year, right down to the positioning of the beds. He retrieved pajamas from his trunk before closing the drapes, giving himself some privacy to change and climb under the covers. Not that he expected to sleep much.

"Hey Scorpius... you still awake?" Michael asked after a few minutes from beyond the drapes, from the snores Angelo was asleep and Reuben had just left for the bathroom.

"Yeah," Scorpius offered.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Erm... sure?"

"Why did you go towards the Dementors? Just like you went towards the possessed people in Diagon Alley."

"I honestly don't know," Scorpius decided to admit, he couldn't come up with any kind of reasonable explanation at all.

"Ah right. Okay, just wondered. Goodnight."

"Hey Michael?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks," Scorpius told him, "you know for stopping me from going towards the possessed people in Diagon Alley and defending me from James, although I wish you wouldn't. It just got you punched in the face, he's going to seriously injure you one of these days if you always stand up for me."

"Don't worry about me and its fine," Michael brushed it off just as Reuben returned and they went silent.

Albus returned a few minutes later and went to bed, Scorpius nearly asked him if he'd learned anything from his father and uncle but decided against it. Albus liked his sleep, if he wasn't telling them immediately then clearly he knew nothing or intended to wait until morning. Scorpius had expected to find it difficult to sleep with the Shadows on his mind but he slipped into slumber with surprising speed.


	9. II: Normalcy

_**Thank you so much to:** SDF and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing! Glad people are still reading and enjoying this story!  
_

_**Author's Note:** Lucifersdaughter pointed out they hadn't got an alert that I'd updated, it didn't actually alert me either but I thought it was just my email but now I'm so sure, think its a glitch with this website. Did anyone else not get alerts? Did you get an alert for this chapter? I kind of got a late alert for reviews and only chapter 8 earlier so I don't know if this problem has righted itself or not or if it effected anyone else or not or if everyone just stopped reading, I'm only 18 I know my writing isn't perfect as real adults  
_

**_Questions:_**

**_So I wonder then if people will still come to Calderon for help and such?_**  
_Mostly yes, he is the Acting Headmaster and they would run by problems by the headmaster anyway but not for everything like they used to, for example Rivers couldn't ask him to mark papers for him_

**_Is it because of his father that Calderon would rather be an assistant then a master?_**  
_Partially yes. His whole childhood he listened to his mother telling him he was destined for greatness, to be this super evil powerful Dark Wizard and command armies and kill millions by his father's side and (especially after talking to the Shadow Master and things in his past) he is terrified that no matter how hard he tries one day he's going to snap and be the person he was supposed to be and he thinks that bring in a position of power will make that happen because he's used to seeing 'masters' being cruel and doing evil things, he thinks that by staying in the background and not being a leader that its less likely to happen. Also (again going back to his childhood) Bellatrix would tell them about her past, he didn't like all the Death Eater stuff but he always loved when she spoke of Hogwarts and he (and Sal) always idolized it and wished to be there, even though they knew it could never happen, and he feels as though he's disgracing Hogwarts by being in charge of it because of being Voldemort's son as well as disgracing McGonagall and Varanian as he looks up to them both. Calderon and Sal both don't tend to think of themselves as human but Sal considers herself greater than everyone else while Calderon considers himself less than everyone else, he constantly feels like he can't do things as good as everyone else because he's less than them as well as not being worthy of normal things and he definitely doesn't consider himself worthy or good enough of being a Headmaster. Sorry just kind of veered off into Calderon's mind then, he's got a lot of issues. Am surprised and glad people asked about him actually, was afraid revealing his father would make everyone suddenly hate him_

* * *

Despite falling asleep quickly, Scorpius didn't sleep well. Again he found woke up from nightmares he couldn't remember, he knew they were nightmares though from the way his pajamas and hair were plastered to him with sweat and the lingering feelings of fear and horror. He supposed it was a good thing he didn't remember but in one way it bugged him, he should at least know what _exactly_ was bothering him, especially when it was happening more and more.

Michael was the only one up before him - or maybe he hadn't slept judging from the bags under his eyes, when Scorpius was done getting dressed he pulled back the drapes and saw Michael was not only dressed but had already made his bed. He was sitting on the edge of his bed holding his wand in both hands and staring down at it sadly, his eye was now purple from James' punch and he didn't seem to notice Scorpius. Not even when he said hi. Reuben was starting to rouse but Albus and Angelo were still fast asleep, the latter of which was still snoring despite the light filtering in from the window.

"Michael?" Scorpius prompted slightly louder and his friend's head shot up, "you know, I'm sure they won't close the school."

"Yeah, I'm not worried," Michael said cheerfully and smiled an almost convincing smile, "think we should wake up Al or wait a bit?"

"I kinda wanted to go to the Great Hall but you know how Albus likes his sleep."

"We could wake him, see what he says and if doesn't want to get up then just go ahead and he can meet us there?"

"Good plan," Scorpius conceded and Michael's smile was infinitely more genuine as he went to get Albus up while Scorpius made his bed, Albus' emerald flicked open and he said something that sounded unintelligible from where he was but Michael seemed to understand as he came back over, Albus rolled over and went back to sleep, "take it we're meeting him in the hall?"

"Yep."

They headed down to breakfast, it felt oddly good to be back in the castle that had been his home for most of last year but not so good to be wearing Gryffindor robes again. Michael looked more comfortable than he had in Diagon Alley, although he didn't seem to have grown an inch over the holidays. Hogwarts was almost exactly the same - _almost_ - but he noticed that they kept passing Aurors in the hallways who would glance at them and carry on, he exchanged a curious look with Michael and they continued walking. Scorpius was starting to feel worried, why were there so many Aurors around? Were any of them Shadows? Were any of them the one who'd tried to kill Varanian? He was at least comforted to see a familiar face when they were almost at the hall.

"Professor Ashain!" Scorpius exclaimed and the tired professor smiled in greeting as they walked alongside him, he was going in their direction. Scorpius' comfort wore off however when he noticed the stitched up wound across his cheek, "what happened to your face?"

"The attack," the professor answered simply and scowled at Michael, "I was about to ask the same question of you."

"Lost a fight with a statue, gotta get used to the castle again," Michael lied smoothly and still sounding cheerful, Scorpius scowled at the usually moralistic Michael lying to his favorite professor for no reason but he decided not to call him on it as Michael spoke again, "you wouldn't happen to know what's happening, would you? Like... if the school's saying open?"

"Its staying open but I have a feeling once the owls get out then plenty of people will pull their kids out of school, Calderon will explain more."

"Good," Scorpius said brightly, forgetting his discomfort at Michael's lie. One thing he was really looking forward to being back in school was seeing the assistant again, he was going to ask if he still had his detentions or at least some for missing the last few weeks or simply volunteer to help out because he had missed them and spending time with Calderon.

"Goodmorning Ashain," a random golden eyed Auror offered cheerfully with an incredibly enthusiastic wave as he and his extremely tall companion passed by.

"Goodmorning," Professor Ashain told him back and held up his hand in a lazy wave as they continued in their opposite directions.

"Who was that?" Scorpius wondered as the professor looked confused.

"I have no idea... that was new."

"So... do we have classes today?" Michael asked.

"Yes we all have classes."

"Good," Scorpius repeated as they made it into the Great Hall - if he didn't know any better then he wouldn't have known a battle had occurred there the previous night - and waved bye to the professor as he went to join the staff table and they went over to the Gryffindor table, "so why did you lie to him about James? He could have got James in trouble for hitting you."

"I don't want to get anyone in trouble on my first day back at Hogwarts," Michael explained as they sat down at the nearly deserted table, "its just a bruise, bruises heal. Its not a big deal."

Scorpius opened his mouth to argue but thought better of it, he didn't want to get into a disagreement with him on the first day back. If James did anything else though then he wouldn't let it go so easily, although it was only partly James' fault as Michael had been defending him. Could he not go one day without hurting his friends? He glanced around the room to distract himself from being sucked back into the guilt trip, there wasn't a lot of people around yet. He recognized the albino Orous was sitting at the Hufflepuff table but no one else really, not by name anyway, Orous was tracing his finger over his wrist and staring unblinkingly into space. He looked like he'd been crying though, Scorpius scowled as he looked over to the staff table.

It was the emptiest that he'd ever seen it, most of the staff were absent and even the ones there bore signs of last night's attack, much like Professor Ashain had the nasty cut across his cheek. He still didn't like the assortment of mostly strangers, he liked the old staff better. Although he wouldn't mind if Rivers left, Rivers was looking particularly frustrated that day. It was strange seeing the empty Headmaster's chair, had Elwood recovered yet? Disappointingly Calderon wasn't there either, he would know what was happening, Calderon always knew what was happening in Hogwarts.

Michael caught him looking and they started trying to guess what the teachers taught from the look of them as more people started filing in - including battered looking teachers, Corin and Maurice arrived not long after they did and sat with them although only Corin joined in the conversation as Maurice seemed content to read, Molly also sat with them after being shunned by the rest of the table - they'd moved onto guessing their names while they ate their breakfast. Scorpius was actually glad to talk about something that wasn't last night's attack. Michael was on his third helpings when Abby and Rose arrived, Abby didn't look like she'd slept much more than Professor Ashain or Michael had but Rose looked cheerful enough.

"Sorry we're late," Rose offered as they sat down opposite the two boys, "we went to check on Neville in the hospital wing first. Where's Albus?"

"Wanted more of a lie in," Michael shrugged as he helped the reluctant Abby put food on her plate, Rose was more than capable of piling up her own, "how is Professor Longbottom?"

"Not doing too badly, he's going to be okay at least."

"Except for not having an arm," Abby whispered sadly as she picked at the food.

"But he'll live, that's the important thing."

"Yeah it is," Michael chimed in and Scorpius nodded, he did think it must be horrible to lose an arm and he felt bad for poor Professor Longbottom but he supposed Michael and Rose were trying to think of the positives. It was better that he'd lost an arm and lived then died with it.

"Any idea what's happening?" Rose asked between bites of sausage, "Daddy said that the school's staying open because none of the students were seriously hurt or killed and that Aurors would be guarding the school anyway. Although he also said that the Acting Headmaster would tell us this in the morning but its weird, Elwood is really bad shape in the hospital wing and they say his injuries were the most severe of everyone - except the dead obviously - but he didn't seem in any condition to wake up, let alone explain things."

"They probably got someone else to be Acting Headmaster," Abby shrugged but frowned, "my dad is the Deputy Headmaster and he's in no condition to run the school right now, McGonagall would have to stay in Beauxbatons with the seventh years so who did they get to do it?"

"I don't know," Michael offered, "but all of the less severely injured teachers are here now, except the ones who weren't there for the attack and Calderon but he's not really a teacher. Maybe its that Divination professor that you've mention, Scorpius?"

"No," Scorpius answered immediately and firmly as he shook his head, "no one in their right mind would make her Acting Headmistress. They probably got someone else from the Ministry and they're not here because Calderon's busy doing all the work, as usual, to prepare them. Its really not fair, he does so much and his room is practically a broom closet. In fact I think it was."

"Some random Ministry person who knows nothing about Hogwarts is probably going to need him though," Abby sighed, "or maybe they hired back one of the old professors as Headmaster temporarily?"

They debated this for awhile until Albus hastily showed up when they were just picking the scraps off their plates, his clothes looking disheveled and his hair more messier than usual, he looked exasperated as he squeezed in beside them. Albus hastily started shoving food onto his plate while prefects handed out class schedules, one of whom was Louis Weasley who apparently had been made prefect like his eldest sister before him, he was a reserve on the Quidditch team so Scorpius knew him and congratulated him. Louis beamed at the praise and proudly tossed his long blond hair back before resuming handing out schedules before Albus had the chance to speak.

"Thank you for coming to breakfast without me!" Albus burst out sarcastically.

"You did say you'd rather sleep a bit more," Michael pointed out.

"I nearly overslept and missed the whole of breakfast!"

"Well then next time get up when you're told."

"Yes, mother," Albus muttered mockingly before speaking up again, "so what's happening? Did I miss anything?"

Almost on cue, the door leading to the room off from the Great Hall near the staff table opened and Calderon came out with the puppy on his heels. He was wearing a cloak, an actual _wizard_ cloak, sleeved and pure black with a silver fastening, Scorpius did notice his usual muggle clothing and the dragon necklace beneath though. He watched with immense curiosity as Calderon walked to the staff table and stood in front of the headmaster's chair, the puppy sitting by his side. There were some lights blinking behind Calderon and the assistant looked more nervous than Scorpius had ever seen him, he ran his hand though his dark hair and eyed the room as if trying to work up the courage to do something. Calderon took a deep breath and put his fingers to his mouth to whistle, Scorpius winced at the high-pitched sound of it but it was effective in silence the crowd and drawing attention to himself. Rivers looked incredibly sullen and pouted sulkily.

"Hello people of Hogwarts! You are probably wondering about the attack last night and what is going to happen?" Calderon called out to address the hall, his voice carrying magically and he managed to compose himself to hide his anxiety from all but those who knew him well and there were nods and murmurs of agreement all around, "to the first, its pretty simple, you were there and you know we were attacked by the Shadows. They were successfully fought off however and although the majority of the Shadows remain uncaught, they are virtually a hundred percent certain that they are no longer anywhere near this school or have any intention of attacking again considering their loss.

"As to the second, Hogwarts will remain open. This castle has held firm and taught students for over a thousand years, it withstood the onslaught of Voldemort and isn't going to crumble from a few Shadows. However if anyone is uncomfortable they are more than welcome to write home and asked to be taken home but for the rest, life goes on and steps are being made to protect that life. For one, the protective enchantments around Hogwarts have been drastically reinforced and more have been added. As an extra precaution the Ministry also has put in place a large number of Aurors, they will guard the entrances, patrol the halls just in case anything like this happens again. They won't interfere with you or your studies and I trust you won't interfere with them so they can do their jobs, guard the school and rise to its defense should the need come.

"I am sorry to tell you that Professor Dixon sadly died last night in the attack, he was here many years and he will be missed. However the rest of the staff are alive and currently stable for anyone who was worried, as you can see many of them are at the table now and most others are expected to be allowed out of the hospital wing in a few days to a few weeks. You will have classes, the schedule's have been rearranged to accommodate circumstances and life will carry on as mostly normal. And announcements, the Forbidden Forest is forbidden - in case you couldn't figure that out from the name - with the exception of being brought there for a lesson, in which case you will be escorted by a pair of Aurors as well, again though they won't effect your lesson.

"As you may have noticed there are quite a lot of new members of staff this year but only two are currently present, the others are either in their classrooms already waiting for you or in the hospital wing. You may or may not have met them by dinner but they will be introduced regardless, anyway give a warm welcome to our new Flying Instructor, Mister Eben Dunbrooke-" Calderon paused to gesture to a man who stood while they politely clapped, he looked around Rivers' age only with lustrous curly chocolate hair but a look of worry was etched into his chalk white skin and even smiling didn't make it fade as he gave them a wave before sitting back down, Scorpius thought the lumpy bruised cut on his forehead might have something to do with his unhappiness, "and our new Transfiguration teacher, Professor Pyrrhus Florian!"

Calderon stopped to gesture again to another man who stood, the Transfiguration teacher seemed more enthusiastic than the Flying Instructor as he grinned and waved to the applauding students. Despite looking a tad younger than the first, Florian's fiery hair was already mixed with gray so much so that it was more gray than red, he had tan skin and had his hands bandaged around the palms as well as his wrist. But what stuck out where his large eyes, they were violet. Not just a purplish shade of blue but violet, a bright violent violet. The applause died down and the still smiling professor sat once more, only then did Calderon continued.

"Quidditch tryouts are going to be in the second week as usual although several Aurors will guard the pitch while you're there and escort you back, again they won't interfere or even force you to go faster. Quidditch Captains must arrange to book the pitch for their tryout with Mister Dunbrooke before then and post notice in your common rooms so people will know and be able to try out, good luck with that... And you're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this and not an actual person of Authority? Well until Elwood's finished his hopefully swift and speedy recovery, I've been appointed the new Acting Headmaster-" Calderon announced and for some reason glanced at Professor Ashain almost accusingly but whatever he was going to say next was drowned out by clapping, Scorpius wasn't surprised. Calderon had banished the Shadows from the memorial, healed so many people in St Mungo's, saved the school from the Shadows with Scorpius and then again banished the Dementors and the Shadows last night, people may think he was mad but there was no denying he was brilliant. And powerful. Scorpius clapped so hard his hands were sore, even the teachers clapped - Rivers was moving his hands together and apart so slowly that it could barely be called that though - although Calderon himself looked incredibly surprised by this, he was blushing as he held out his hands and lowered them to gesture them to silence, "you don't... you don't need to clap me but erm... thanks, I'll try my best to not fail... completely. So that's about it for now, have a good day!"

The students were in a much better mood as they left the Great Hall than when they'd arrived, Scorpius glanced back to see Calderon slump into the Headmaster's chair still looking anxious as he watched the students leave. If not for the handful of teachers still at the table, Rivers in particular seemed to be complaining to Calderon about something. Not everyone was happy though, James was moaning loudly about the idiocy of putting an insane man in control of the school and if not the majority disagreeing with them then Scorpius would have said something. Most people cared little of the mental health of a man who'd summoned a giant Dragon to defend them and banished the Shadows - it was debated whether he 'obliterated' them or teleported them or if they got away - and Scorpius was glad.

Mostly glad, he was much happier with Calderon as Headmaster but the Aurors worried him. They passed more as he trudged with his friends along to their first class of the new year, Scorpius eyed the men and women suspiciously. At _least_ one of them was a traitor, at least one of them had tried to kill an innocent man for the Shadows. Varanian had wanted him to be in Hogwarts because it was supposedly safe, the Ministry wanted the Aurors there to make it supposedly safe but Scorpius had a horrible feeling that Hogwarts was probably the least safe place to be. Especially if your name was Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy and the Shadows were after you. He couldn't help but wonder if this was part of the Shadows plan, that they'd attacked the staff with so much ferocity just to instill fear - although they could just want that for itself - so that the Ministry would insist on Aurors guarding it, not knowing there was at least one corrupt one.

"What class do we have first?" Scorpius asked to distract himself from his depressing train of thoughts although he could just have read his schedule, he'd just been blindly following and not listening to his friends' conversation he was so worried. With any luck it would be something enjoyable and distracting like Defense Against the Dark Arts with his favorite professor.

"History of Magic," Michael answered enthusiastically and everyone but Michael groaned at the prospect of their first class of the year being with Binns. Scorpius sighed, _just my luck._


	10. II: Charming Potions

History of Magic was almost exactly as Scorpius remembered it, Albus and Abby sat down in the seats in front of Scorpius with Albus immediately falling asleep and Abby was clearly bored out of her mind and was half-asleep by the end of the lesson which was typical for most students. Rose sat down at the desk beside him and Michael, her and Scorpius at least tried to pay attention despite the dullness of it although his mind frequently wandered. Not liking a class was no reason to not even try, a few of the Ravenclaws were the only other ones to try pay attention like they did.

Michael was the only person in the class - probably the only person in the history of Binns' career - who actually _enjoyed_ History of Magic, he managed to look bright-eyed with interest despite his tiredness and bruise and was smiling as he scribbled down notes on what their ghost professor was saying. Almost exactly the same as last year, except for the different content of what Binns was saying and the fact that Michael kept cringing every so often and rubbing his wrist.

"Something wrong?" Scorpius asked him after about the tenth time that Michael did this, Binns didn't seem to notice but Rose glanced at them.

"My wrist's just a bit sore still if I move it or use it, its nothing," Michael shrugged it off and carried on taking notes, "its normal, healing takes time without magic."

Scorpius went back to half paying attention, he supposed that was true although he was sure that it was the other wrist that was bruised. He didn't dwell on it though, their were more important things like the Aurors that were everywhere. At least there was none in the classroom, Binns would make an even worse protector of the class than he was a teacher. He could have been the most talented duelist in the world when he was alive but a ghost was useless in an attack.

Near the end of the class he actually looked at his schedule for the first time, after History of Magic they had Potions then lunch, after lunch they had double Charms and then Defense Against the Dark Arts. Usually he would think it was a pretty good day, Potions and Charms weren't his favorite subjects but he still enjoyed them. However as he had no idea what to expect from the new professors for them, he wasn't sure how they'd go. He'd liked the old professors. On the bright side though, no matter how they went the day would end on a good note with Professor Ashain so there was at least one positive.

He was glad and nervous when History of Magic ended, the five of them headed down to the dungeons and Scorpius was put on edge again from passing the Aurors. His friends seemed oblivious however, they were discussing who the Potions would be or rather discussing how evil the new Potions teacher would be as apparently their parents had a really mean teacher in school. Scorpius was confused, he was sure they would have had Snape and his father had spoken highly of him and he was pretty sure Snape had been a hero spy in the Wizarding Wars and Albus' middle name was after him. Had they had a substitute professor or something? He was about to ask just as they arrived at the Potions classroom and Nott stepped in front of him.

"H-Hey Malf-Scorp... um... you. C-Can I talk to you?" Nott stammered awkwardly and Scorpius exchanged a puzzled look with his friends, Nott's blue eyes kept moving as he looked anywhere but at the person he was talking to, he kept shifting uncomfortable as he ran his hand through his hair and bit his lip.

"Um... sure," Scorpius hesitantly agreed, clueless as to what the bully would want with him.

"I um... I w-wanted to um... t-to... erm... I wanted to err..." Nott started to say but seemed to be having trouble getting the words out before finally he gulped and spoke as he flicked his eyes to Scorpius' for a moment, "th-thank you. Y-You know f-for saving us f-from the Sh-Shadows."

"What?" Scorpius wondered, blinking in shock as Nott looked away again.

"Th-Thank you f-for s-saving my l-life ev-even though y-you pr-probably d-didn't d-do it f-for me. I'm s-s-sorry I w-was s-such a j-j-jerk to you and y-your friends, I w-was j-just ups-upset ab-about you beating my br-brother s-s-so I w-wanted t-to get b-back at y-you. I'm s-sorry. To a-all of you."

Scorpius was trying to comprehend what had happened when Nott turned and walked away, he went by his usual friends who called out taunts about stuttering and one of them deliberately knocked into Nott. Nott just ignored it, picked himself up and went to stand by the wall opposite, staring at the ground.

"Did-Did that just happen?" Michael asked bemusedly while Albus pinched himself.

"Yeah, I'm definitely awake," Albus nodded in confirmation, "what got into him? Is he trying to lull us into a false sense of security so he can strike?"

"No," Rose said shaking her head, "he's the reason they stopped they trying to make you remember more of the memories Varanian erased, they pushed him too far and damaged his mind somehow. Memory charms are tricky things, especially on children whose minds aren't fully grown yet, its dangerous."

"Poor guy," Michael offered solemnly before the doors to the classroom opened and a woman's voice called them inside.

They got seats at the front of the classroom and he watched Nott go all the way to the furthest corner back, he sat alone. Scorpius turned his attention to the new Potions professor instead though, it was indeed a woman and he thought she looked vaguely as one of the new faces at the table the previous night. Her right hand and wrist was heavily bandaged and she bore two horizontal cuts on her cheek as signs of her participation in the duels, it did nothing to detract from her natural beauty however. Although Scorpius supposed that might have something to do with her very tightly fitting black dress, although it was looser at the bottom and trailed on the ground. She looked around his father's age, give or take a year, she was brunette, her hair long and loose and had smooth light olive with dark long-lashed glittering green eyes that were taking all of them with an unreadable expression. She carried herself with an almost regal bearing, there was something very meticulous about her appearance and even when she smiled it was a dignified smile.

"Good morning class," the Potions Professor greeted them in a cool but not unfriendly tone, every word sounding well thought out, "I am Professor Callista Vipera, your new Potions Master. Welcome to my class, second years, I am pleased to meet you. I do not tolerate misbehavior, how are you supposed to learn anything about Potion-making otherwise? Do not misbehave and we will have no problems. I have no issue with talking amongst yourselves as long as you do the work and be silent when I'm addressing you as I am now, I will carry out the role call now. I hope we have a pleasant year."

Vipera went over to her desk and started calling out their names, it took longer than usual as she would look up with every name to identify the speaker - probably trying to memorize their names - before looking back and marking them off, which was also slower as her injured hand seemed to make writing awkward. He noticed Albus seemed to be sleepy despite oversleeping and sleeping through History of Magic, he had his face rested on his hands as he stared at the professor. It was only when she called out Michael's name that the routine was broken, when she realized he'd spoken she smiled warmly at him before continuing. When she was finished she rose once more and went to stand in front of her desk once more to address them, folding her arms once more.

"Before we truly get into the noble art of Potion-making, I wish to see where you all stand as well as for you to all to get used to the subject after the Summer absence. We have a lesson now and another tomorrow that are single lessons, we'll properly start the Second Year Curriculum on our first double lesson on Monday but for today we'll do more revision. I almost thought of giving you some paperwork and a quiz but... that's not the most interesting way to start a class or to learn, is it?" Vipera said to them and smiled, this one looked mischievous and there was murmurings of agreement throughout the class, "so today, you are to make an anti-swelling potion that I believe you covered with Professor Slughorn last year? You have until the end of the lesson. Begin."

Everyone went to get their ingredients and started on their potions, Scorpius liked Professor Slughorn a lot better but he was glad that at least they'd get to do something. Vipera remained in front of her desk for a few minutes, arms still folded as she watched the class trying to remember back to last year and create the potion. Scorpius had just put the flame on under his cauldron when the new teacher walked directly over to the three of them, he froze and Albus sat up straight to spit into his hands and seemed to try smooth down his hair for some reason but Vipera went to the boy in the middle of them, Michael, who hadn't noticed her and was dicing up his Tebascus mushrooms obliviously.

"Your dicing skills are impressive," Vipera pointed out and Michael jumped in surprise before smiling.

"Um... thanks, professor," Michael said and Albus looked distraught.

"I-I can dice good too!" Albus protested and immediately started to violently hammer his Tebascus mushrooms into lumpier chunks than Michael's.

"I'm sure you can, although those could be a little finer," Vipera stated holding up her hand to stop him, Albus grinned then looked nervous, he was sweating as he tried to make them as fine as Michael's while the professor turned back to Michael, "take twenty-five points for Gryffindor."

"For dicing mushrooms?" Michael wondered looking bemused, "I'm not really good at Potions, I just know how to cut like that from cooking at home."

"No, of course not," Vipera laughed shaking her head and Albus sliced his finger as he looked up at her, not even seeming to notice, "for what you did last night, running to help the professors and you helped with my wrist. The healer was rather short with you but you deserved some praise for what you did."

"It was nothing, anyone would have done the same," Michael offered blushing awkwardly at being praised, he wasn't usually praised.

"I-I would have helped too if I knew about injuries," Albus spoke up again and Vipera spared him a glance.

"I'm sure you would have," Vipera offered before turning back to Michael once more, "the second reason I wished to speak to you was to inquire about your eye, it wasn't bruised last night. Whoever hit you should be punished, bullying is the worst form of misbehavior and I do not tolerate it."

"It was noth-"

"It was my brother," Albus blurted out before Michael could finish his sentence, "my brother. James Sirius Potter. He's in third year. He hit Michael. I saw him."

"No, no it wasn't," Michael lied quickly.

"I'm sure it wasn't," Vipera said looking between both boys before taking out her wand, it was strangely twisted but Scorpius thought it was designed like that. She waved it at Michael's face and his bruise faded into his skin, Michael blinked and put his fingers to his eye, pressing it and not cringing in pain as Vipera put away her wand and smiled her mischievous smile again, "just in case you didn't feel like bothering those healers."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Now carry on," Vipera offered before her expression returned neutral and she started walking amongst the other students to see how they were getting on.

They went back to making their potions - after Michael helped Albus deal with his finger, it was just a scratch - but didn't speak of the conversation with Vipera. In fact Albus didn't speak at all, he didn't want to be 'distracted' from his work so Scorpius mostly talked with Michael and Rose and Abby, the girls having taken the desk beside them. They talked about their work mostly, trying to remember the exact specifics about the potion and steps and how best to do what. Scorpius thought they did alright in the end, they bottled the potion, marked their names and left it on the tray at the front for Vipera to mark or at least examine them. Scorpius wasn't glad the lesson was over, passing the Aurors to get back to the Great Hall made him anxious again.

"I'm in love," Albus announced dreamily as they sat down for lunch, the girls rolled their eyes.

"Again?" Rose complained piling her plate with food.

"Don't say it like that! She's beautiful and smart and has this amazing laugh-"

"Who is she this time?" Abby asked disinterestedly.

"Professor Vipera," Albus said with a happy sigh and the girls exchange a look before laughing, Scorpius smirked at him liking the teach and Michael just rolled his eyes, "don't laugh!"

"Can I sit here?" Molly asked sounding miserable, Scorpius' smirk became a genuine smile as he saw her, his palms started sweating again.

"Sure," Scorpius agreed brightly as he moved up a bit so she could sit inbetween him and Albus, "how was your morning classes?"

"Classes were great. Its the people treating me like a leper that bugs me."

"Is it really that bad? You're not even the squib, its your sister."

"Having a sister is close enough apparently," Molly sighed and started putting some food on her plate, she picked at it rather than eating at it though, "I guess it shows who your true friends are though, you and Nick are pretty much the only people not teachers or cousins not shunning me."

"I'm sure this will all blow over soon," Scorpius offered comfortingly almost through gritted teeth, he felt a wave of anger towards Abby's brother Nick for still being nice to her. Nick probably still liked Molly and he was only being nice to her because he wanted to date her not because he cared about her at all, "besides, you're Quidditch Captain. Once we crush Slytherin in November then at least Gryffindor will forget all about it, you'll be a hero who won the first Quidditch match of the season despite being the youngest Captain in... ever."

"Assuming anyone is actually going to try out."

"We're trying out!" Albus burst out excitedly gesturing to himself and his friends.

"For Chasers right?" Molly said slowly, biting her lip worriedly. _She looks so cute when she bites her lip_, Scorpius mind thought it before he could stop himself and mentally - and almost physically - slapped himself.

"Of course, they're the spots you need."

"Good. Last thing I need is another James pestering me for Seeker just because we're cousins, I'm picking the team on skill alone so don't take it personally if you don't get it. Good luck though," Molly offered sounding relieved as she smiled, his heart skipped a beat, she looked even more beautiful when she smiled and he was glad she'd cheered up a bit, "I'd recommend practicing a bit if you can, I always do that before the tryouts to make sure I'm in the best shape."

"Bonjour!" Corin greeted them, clapping Scorpius on the back as he and a sullen looking Maurice joined them without asking, "you know I was doubtful about the Hogwarts education system but your Metamorphose or Transfiguration as you call it in Britain was just great, Professor Florian is fantastic! Have any of you had him yet - oh wait you can't have because we had a double, sorry, I hope you get him soon. He's great!"

"No, we have double Charms then Defense Against the Dark Arts," Abby pointed out and Corin looked disappointed, "what's up with Maurice?"

"What? Oh he's just frustrated that there's someone in the class whose just as good as us," Corin answered and gestured to Maurice who was nibbling food with his head resting on his hand and not bothering to translate what they were saying, Maurice just shrugged as if he didn't care about the conversation and Corin continued, "since we've had two extra years practice and all but this one Hufflepuff excelled at everything practical too despite it being his first time using magic."

"Please tell me it wasn't Vern," Albus groaned and Michael scowled.

"You shouldn't be so mean to your cousin, you should be proud if he's doing well," Michael pointed out and Albus rolled his eyes, Corin spoke before he could reply though.

"It wasn't Vern."

"Then who?" Scorpius wondered although he had a strange feeling that he knew the answer.

"That albino that sat with us on the train, Orous Knox."

Scorpius instinctively looked over to the Hufflepuff table, he couldn't see Orous or Vern actually. While he was at it, he glanced at the at the staff table and smiled at Calderon sitting in the headmaster's chair, petting his dog and talking to Professor Ashain. He went back to the table, the discussion bounced between the Quidditch tryouts and Corin's excitement about Transfiguration before lunch ended.

They said bye to Molly, Corin and Maurice and headed off to Charms, again debating on the personality or appearance of the professor. Scorpius didn't say much, put off by the Aurors they passed and not looking forward to another new professor although he supposed Vipera wasn't _bad_. He just liked Professor Slughorn better, he'd gotten close to a lot of the staff during his daily detentions and he'd rather have people he knew and liked then strangers. Especially with so many potential evil Aurors running amok.

"Michael! Michael!" Vern called out desperately as they rounded the bend, looking upset and his clothes oddly dishevelled, Orous was with him and still looked miserable but not anxious like Vern.

"What's up?" Michael wondered.

"We got lost and we're supposed to be in History of Magic and I don't know where we are or we're going."

"Ah, happens to us all in the beginning. I'll show you the way."

"Really?" Vern wondered looking hopeful and Michael nodded as he smiled.

"Sure, its not problem."

"You'll be late for Charms!" Albus protested giving his cousin a dark look, Vern looked even more distraught.

"I don't want you to get in trouble!" Vern squeaked anxiously, "we'll find it... eventually."

"No its fine," Michael insisted brushing it off, "you guys just go on without me, I don't mind being late to help someone out."

"Fine, catch up with you later then and hope this guy is as nice as Flitwick," Albus said rolling his eyes as he, Abby and Albus carried on but Scorpius hesitated. Michael would have to walk back to Charms alone with the Aurors, any of whom could be a murder and a Shadow.

"I'll go with Michael," Scorpius told them, he was given puzzled looks, "I... I don't think its safe for anyone to be alone in the castle after what happened."

Everyone just froze for a moment, all the talk of lessons and classes had taken everyone's mind of it but he'd just brought it back. It felt a flicker of guilt but it passed, it was better than letting Michael walk back alone. They all nodded in silent agreement and split up, Michael walked in the lead talking to Vern who frantically kept apologizing for getting them lost while Michael insisted it was fine. Finally silencing when he asked him if he would rather help someone and be late then be on time and leave other people wandering around lost, Vern managed a weak smile when he realized he'd do the same and instead listened to Michael giving him hints on how to remember the way in Hogwarts. Scorpius was half-listening and half-watching the Aurors they passed, he had assumed Orous had been listening to Michael too before he spoke.

"I'm sorry," Orous whispered so quietly that Scorpius could barely hear him, the other two slightly ahead in front didn't, "I feel like I should know the way, its almost like I've been here before."

"Why?" Scorpius asked curiously and if possible Orous lowered his voice even more.

"Just in my dreams."

"Dreams aren't real, you know that right?" Scorpius pointed out firmly, he'd dreamed of going to Hogwarts when he was younger but he hadn't thought it would let him know the way. That was weird.

Orous said nothing though, his head was hung so low with his white hair covering his face anyway so Scorpius couldn't even see his expression. They arrived at the History of Magic at that point though so it was irrelevant, said goodbye to the younger boys and started to head back to Charms. They walked in silence, Scorpius was still bothered by the Aurors as he tried to remember everything Varanian had said.

"Something bothering you?" Michael inquired after a minute.

"Why would you think that?" Scorpius countered, he couldn't exactly warn them about the Aurors without saying he'd been in contact with Varanian. He wasn't sure how but he was afraid telling anyone would somehow get the word out and the Aurors or Shadows would be able to track him down and kill him.

"Because you keep giving every Auror we pass a death glare."

"I do not..." Scorpius offered and tried not to scowl, was it really that obvious?

"You've been doing it all day."

"They just make me uncomfortable, I guess. Think we should make a run for Charms? No point being any later than necessary."

"Sure," Michael agreed although Scorpius wasn't a hundred percent sure that Michael was content with his answer, they broke into a run and bolted through the corridors getting some strange looks from the Aurors but no one spoke to them. They went back to a walk as they reached the corridor with the Charms corridor, Scorpius nursing a stitch in his side but Michael laughed breathlessly, "kinda weird to run through the school without Varanian, Shadows or bullies after us, isn't it? We gotta get back into shape."

Scorpius shook his head but managed a weak smile before they reached the classroom, to his surprise as they went to enter the room they were blocked by a man. The man wasn't fat - or at least not drastically - but he was just... _big_, robust and broad shouldered as well as being tall, not as tall as Professor Hagrid but Scorpius thought he may have a good few inches on Calderon. He also looked to be in his late forties or early fifties maybe and he did look like he'd been at the staff table the previous night, his long combed back hair didn't seem to have decided whether it was gray or white and neither had his pencil mustache. His heavily bandaged right arm was in a sling, his left - also sporting a bandage near his shoulder - was holding a walking stick to support his bandaged thigh and he also had a fresh burn on the side of his neck, evidence he was definitely at the staff table the previous day. In comparison he had tiny eyes, dark beady eyes that looked down on Scorpius with a gruff expression and look of loathing.

"You're late," the man pointed out, "what's your name?"

"Michael Sanford. And we know," Michael said and the man's eyes flicked to him with a less intense loathing, "there was some first years lost and we were just helping them get to their next lesson."

"I'll buy that off you but a _Malfoy_," the man spat the word as if it disgusted him and left a foul taste in his mouth but Michael defended him before Scorpius could open his mouth.

"You wizard people need to get over your prejudices and stop blaming children from their parents mistakes. Scorpius is a good person."

"Muggle-born, eh? You just don't understand our world or our history," the man told him, "you're defending the wrong kind of people and its going to come back to bite you in butt one day. You can't help everyone."

"You can try and help the people right in front of you," Scorpius spoke up for the first time and the hatred intensified as he looked back to Scorpius.

"You're both getting detentions, I don't care why you're late. This Saturday. My office. After breakfast. Do you understand?" the man asked them and they both nodded with stony expressions, "and twenty points from Slytherin."

"Erm... I'm a Gryffindor."

"You're a disgrace to the noble name of Godric Gryffindor, I'm just going to pretend you're in the house scum like you is supposed to be in."

"The Sorting Hat put him in Gryffindor, its the only time it screamed it five times. I think its pretty sure Godric Gryffindor would have wanted him in his house," Michael spoke up defensively again, Scorpius really wished he wouldn't do that as the man shot Michael a dark look plus he knew the hat had been wrong although Scorpius felt like a Slytherin even less than he felt like a Gryffindor.

"You just don't know when to shut up, do you Sanford?" the man growled and Scorpius saw a flicker of fear on Michael's face for the briefest of seconds before his composure returned and he stared defiantly back, "both of you get into class. Sit down. Shut up. Don't speak until spoken to or told to. And _Malfoy_, if you try and kill this class again then I will try and kill you. Go. Now."

They both hurried into the once class and went to sat down in the corner where their friends had saved them a seat, they were smiling, the whole class looked cheerful. Had they not met their professor yet? They sat down in their usual seats while the man limped over to the front of the class, to Scorpius' surprise he no longer looked filled with loathing, his smile was jolly, warm and welcoming.

"To those of us who arrived late, I'm your new Charms teacher, Professor Wynston Grant. And to continue..."

The man - Grant - immediately started talking to them in a conversational tone, talking about the interesting spells they'd be doing that year and getting the class - except Scorpius and Michael - to join in the discussion on what spells they'd learned the previous year and getting them to demonstrate, discussing various spells and charms as they did, which they preferred and didn't, as well as spiraling into hilarious - or at least everyone but Scorpius and Michael laughed - anecdotes about the time that such and he and such and such accidentally did such and such with such and such spell. The class lapped up his every word, they were enjoying the class. He exchanged a confused look with Michael on this, had he enchanted the class or something in the few minutes they'd missed? Finally, after about half of the double lesson, they moved on to what they were learning about, the enlargement charm and let them practice it for the rest of the lesson, going around and checking on people's progress and striking up conversation.

"You know, I did warn you," Albus pointed out from behind him as they started trying the charm, "that helping Vern would make you late, you can't hold it against the poor bloke for having to tell you off. Its one telling off - that you could have avoided - and its no reason to sulk and not contribute anything or enjoy his stories. He's a good man."

"You didn't see what he was like," Scorpius protested as loudly as he dared and Michael nodded in agreement but Grant was off to the other side of the room and seemed not to notice.

"You're just irked he told you off, admit it," Rose moaned as she yet again failed to make her apple grow, "and aren't you even going to try the spell?"

"_Engorgio_," Scorpius said focusing and waving his wand correctly, immediately the apple grew to the size of a pineapple and Scorpius almost allowed himself a triumphant smirk. He was the first to do Grant's spell, the person that he hated. Grant noticed this now and hobbled back over, studying the apple with an unreadable expression before he shook his head.

"Its the wrong size," Grand told him solemnly.

"The wrong size?" Michael repeated incredulously and Scorpius noticed the loathing back in Grant's beady eyes.

"Yes. Keep trying though," Grant offered in a kindly voice that was loud enough for those nearby to hear before shrinking Scorpius' apple before leaning towards them both and lowering his voice, "you've both said a sentence that wasn't the spell or from being directly spoken to, that's another detention for today after your last class. I can keep this up for however you long you boys want so I suggest you both shut up."

With that Grant leaned back smiling and went back to going around the class, Scorpius didn't bother trying the spell again for the rest of the class. Michael kept trying but continuously moving his wrist seemed to pain him, it didn't matter whether Michael miraculously got better at practical work or not, Grant would inevitably tell him that he'd done it wrong. Later on in the class several other people succeeded in the charm - including Abby - and they were the same size as his apple had been, Grant didn't tell them it was the wrong size though.

* * *

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter, Winged-panther1 and SDF for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** People liking Calderon as their favorite character got me wondering about your thoughts on people who are your favorite characters? And least favorite? People you like to see more or less of? You don't have to answer of course, I'm just curious because the reaction to Calderon surprised me (in a good way)_

**_Questions:_**

**_So is Neville gonna get a magical prosthetic arm like Moody's leg and eye?_**  
_Yes he will but not for awhile yet, I actually read up about real amputations and short version they have to wait a few weeks to a few months before they get even a prosthetic and even though it will be a magical prosthetic he still has to wait until he's healed enough as none of the wounds caused by the Shadow attackers respond to normal magical healing (anyone wonder or care why that is?) but yeah he will in a few months in-story time_

**_ Is Scorpius' Patronus gonna be a thestral? _**  
_I can't answer that, you'll have to wait and see if he can even get it at all_

**_Is Mike gonna finally knock out James the old fashion muggle way? _**  
_For this book? No, Michael's very against resorting to fist-fighting (even if he wasn't so short and scrawny) and fighting in general. For this series? Maybe, stuff happens and people change_

**_Will we finally get some Hermione in this one?_**  
_Maybe. I'm not deliberately trying to leave her out or anything but its harder to organically inject her into the story than say Harry because as an Auror (especially Head Auror) he would be dealing with things whereas Hermione stays at the Ministry more but that doesn't mean she's out_

**_Also is Orous the albino from Scor's dream? _**  
_I can't answer that either as you predicted, you'll have to wait and see  
_


	11. II: First Impressions

Scorpius was glad when Charms was over and they could finally move on to Defense Against the Dark Arts, he and Michael immediately started explaining to their friends about the things that Grant had said to them - trying to recount it word for word as much as possible. He did not get the reaction that he'd hoped for though, he'd expected his friends to side with him but they were oddly defensive of Grant.

"My dad says he's a great guy," Abby pointed out, "he may not have thought much of Elwood but he liked Professor Grant, in fact he always referred to him as Wynston which he didn't for the other new teachers. And McGonagall hired him personally because she knows him and the other teacher that had been due to take over from Flitwick backed out after being offered a job in foreign school, he considered it safer after the attacks. Dad says Wynston was good to take it on, he's likable and friendly and knows what he's talking about, Wynston actually wrote three of the Charms books we'll need for fourth and fifth year and for NEWTs if anyone takes it. Said there couldn't have been a better replacement for Flitwick, also said he was definitely not a Lockhart... whatever that means."

"But what about the things he said and giving us detentions?" Scorpius wondered incredulously, "and hating me for being a Malfoy? And apparently doing the spell wrong?"

"He just seems meaner to you because you two don't like him for giving you a detention," Albus complained as they reached Professor Ashain's classroom, "he's probably just trying to be harsh on you two now at the start of the year to make sure you clean up your acts, he has no way of knowing whether you're troublemakers or not yet."

"Don't worry about it," Rose offered in a surprisingly gentle tone, "he may be a bit prejudiced but once he gets to know you then he'll see that you're a good person and lay off you."

"And if he doesn't?" Scorpius asked irritably.

"Then go to Calderon," Albus shrugged as Professor Ashain called them inside to sit down, "you're tight with him, just say Grant's being a jerk and he'll laugh like a maniac, wave his hand and it will be dealt with.

"Are we going to do boring revision like in Herbology?" one of the Slytherin students complained without bothering to raise his hand and Scorpius turned his attention to the class, Professor Ashain was sitting back in the chair almost lazily and looked exceedingly tired. He didn't seem bothered by the question though, he just tilted his head to one side and studied the class with his deep chestnut brown eyes.

"Firstly, raise your hand if you want to speak in case you've forgotten from last year," Professor Ashain chastised the boy, "secondly, everyone raise your wands in the air and perform the wand-lighting charm. Lower your wands and put it out when I call your name."

The students did as they were told and the professor scanned the room to make sure they all had done it before doing the roll call, Scorpius thought he had an idea why, the wand-lighting charm was the only thing that had had any effect on the Specters months before and he wanted to make sure they could do it for their own protection. They all could do it and all could put it out too, Professor Ashain nodded as if glad before speaking again, usually he stood when he spoke to them but not then.

"Well I think that's enough revision for today," Professor Ashain began and the students perked up, some of the Slytherins even cheered - Scorpius was starting to not look forward to Herbology, "not that everything covered last year wasn't important but you were all capable and revision can wait for the time being. With the state of the world right now the way it is, now more than ever learning defensive magic is important. The spell we are going to start working on today is one of the most useful and well-used in duels: the Disarming Charm. Just because its a simple spell does not mean its not effective, essentially without a wand your opponent is powerless. _Expelliarmus_ is the incantation for it, you have to be very careful with the pronunciations as _Expellimellius_ will set fire to your opponent's sleeves which has its uses but its not what we're aiming for."

He did stand then, Scorpius could almost of imagined the slight flicker of pain on his face at moving as he went to stand in front of the desk. Everyone was paying extra close attention - Scorpius included - as Professor Ashain demonstrated the wand movement in detail as well as the pronunciation, having them say it a few times to ensure they could say it right. He asked for a volunteered to help him demonstrate, Scorpius' hand shot up as did most other people's but the professor picked him and instructed him just to hold his wand out.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Professor Ashain said with a flourish of a wand and a flicker of pain on his face, Scorpius felt the spell hit and his wand went spiraling into the air. With impressively good reflexes, the professor's hand snaked into the air and seemingly effortless caught Scorpius' wand. He smiled and tossed it back to him, "thank you, Scor. Now everyone partner up and give it a go."

"_Expelliarmus!" _Scorpius cried enthusiastically as soon as he'd paired up with Michael, he was desperate to try it for himself.

Too enthusiastically. As Scorpius flicked his wrist and a red jet shot out towards Michael, his friend's wand went flying up into the air but Michael himself went flying backwards. With faster reflexes than Scorpius had expected, Professor Ashain leaped to action and used a nonverbal spell to slow Michael's movement and gently let him onto the ground. Scorpius ran over and realized Michael's eyes were closed, for one horrific second he thought that he'd killed his friend before Professor Ashain muttered a spell and Michael's eyes flicked open.

"What... what happened?" Michael asked.

"Are you alright?" Scorpius asked almost in unison before the professor helped Michael to his feet.

"Yeah, I think."

"That happens sometimes," Professor Ashain explained to them as much as the class who'd stopped at the commotion, "a bit too much power in the spell and it acts more like a stunner, just try be careful everyone. Sometimes you forget your own power."

Scorpius was afraid to try the spell again for the rest of the class, the last thing he wanted was to hurt his friend. Quite a lot of people had managed the spell to some degree by the end of the lesson, considering it was only a single, but no one had knocked anyone unconscious like Scorpius had. Michael hadn't managed it, he tended to struggle with practical work although of all the classes with spellwork, Defense Against the Dark Arts was the one Michael was best at. His wrist seemed to be paining him though, most that happened was the hairs on the back of Scorpius' neck stood up on end and on his final try he was knocked back half a step.

It was weird coming out of the last class of the day and not seeing Calderon there waiting for him, with a depressing pang it truly hit him that he wouldn't be having his detentions with Calderon that year, he wondered if he'd get to see Calderon at all as he was Acting Headmaster. Scorpius was in a gloomy mood as they said bye to the others and headed back to their Charms detention, the Aurors passing only darkened his mood further and it didn't help that Michael was wondering if they were going to be tortured.

As it turned out though, it was just lines. A thousand of them reading _I must not be late to my lessons_, they were not to speak or it'd be more. Scorpius didn't actually mind too much, he let his mind wander, he supposed it was good he could disarm so forcefully if any Shadows - or traitor Aurors - tried to murder him but not so good in class. He was still trying to figure out how to contact Varanian, the most obvious thing was to just owl him but he wasn't sure Free could find Varanian as he didn't know where Varanian was or if he did then would the Shadows catch on and find where Varanian was holed up? Or what if his owl was intercepted? Last year had made him paranoid about the possibility of mail being intercepted and read, he wouldn't put it past the Aurors - they were stalking his family after all - or the Shadows if they realized he and Varanian were... what exactly? Allies? Something like that.

He wracked his brain for his conversation with Varanian, hadn't the former headmaster said that his in-laws had been helping him? Maybe he could find Varanian through them, the Ministry and Shadows probably dismissed them as Varanian's wife was long dead. Or with any luck anyway. Scorpius scowled though, he was sure Varanian's wife had had muggle parents though, they might have been dismissed for being muggles too. He wasn't keen to go about seeking out muggles. Besides, Varanian's wife's name had been Ethel, he had no idea what her last name was so he couldn't find the muggles anyway. Back to the drawing board.

"No, no, no," Grant said as he came over from his desk to check on them, shaking his head at Michael's writing, "your handwriting is atrocious, Sanford, is anyone supposed to be able to read that? Is that some kind of joke? Backwards S's in places, what are you five?! Some of these sentences aren't even the right sentence!"

"No!" Michael protested and looked somewhere between hurt and embarrassed, "I'm dyslexic, I have trouble with spelling and reading and writing, I get letters mixed up. I don't mean to."

"That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!" Grant snorted angrily, "if you're going to have the audacity to tell such a shameless bold-faced lie then at least make it at least make it not a pathetic, half-assed, implausible-"

"Its true!"

"Nonsense! And don't interrupt. That's another detention for you tomorrow."

"Its true!" Scorpius rose to his friend's defense and the beady eyes turned to him darkly, "its a muggle thing."

"And what do pureblood supremacists know about muggles? My grandfather was a muggle and I don't know of this make-believe thing. You also spoke out of turn so another detention for you tomorrow," Grant spat and glanced at Scorpius' writing and spoke again in an icy tone, "your handwriting is passable. You may go. Sanford, start again. I'll keep you all night if you can't stop this charade and give me legible lines."

"That's not f-"

"Another detention for you on Thursday as well then. Go."

"Just go before he makes it worse," Michael told him and looked almost on the verge of crying but seemed pleading, reluctantly Scorpius headed to the exit.

"And another detention for you on Thursday too," Grant was saying angrily as he left, beginning to lecture Michael on lying and handwriting and calling him stupid.

Scorpius was in a foul mood as he walked to dinner, he passed more Aurors and gripped the wand in his pocket tightly in case any of them tried anything. He sat down with his friends and told them about the detention, they did admit he seemed unfair although also agreed they'd never heard of dyslexia either. He stabbed at his food and wished it was Grant's face. Then wondered if that made him a bad person. Then didn't care. They lingered at dinner in case Michael showed up but he didn't, Grant did though and heartily dug into a mountain of food, conversing cheerfully with Professor Hagrid. They went back to the dormitory and Michael wasn't there either. Michael wasn't back by their curfew, he wasn't even back by the third year's curfew time, or fourth, or fifth, or sixth, or seventh... Scorpius actually fell asleep waiting for him.

"Wakey, wakey," Michael said and Scorpius jolted awake again, his friend was already dressed and looked tired still, "wouldn't want to miss breakfast, I'm starved."

"How long was your detention for?" Scorpius wondered as Michael went to rouse Albus.

"Late. Grant only let me go at all because he wanted to sleep, not because he was in any way pleased with my progress. He made that very clear."

"Still think he's a nice guy?" Scorpius asked of Albus who looked a lot less sure.

If Scorpius had hoped that the day would be much better then he would have been wrong, the first thing they had was double Herbology which was being temporarily taught by the new Flying Instructor Eben Dunbrooke as he only had a much less hectic schedule. To give him his fair dues, he did know quite a bit about Herbology - he'd apparently read up about it the previous night - but he had the most boring voice that only managed to increase in pitch when he was interested, Scorpius wouldn't be surprised if he discovered Eben was a descendant of Binns. All they did was recap the work covered in the previous year for both lessons they were lectured and given homework to put everything discussed to parchment.

After lunch they had Potions again, brewing another potion from last year and again Albus was determined to be a perfectionist to impress her but Vipera seemed to treat him no different than anyone else. After Potions was another History of Magic followed by another Charms, the only blessing was that it was a single lesson. They worked on the enlargement charm again and Grant consistently found errors in the structure, size - and oddly enough color - of what he was doing, he treated Michael more or less the same although in Michael's case it was to fault his lack of progress and talent. He remained as cheery as ever to the rest of the students though, he never faulted their structure or lack of progress although at least his other friends did notice the different treatment this time.

The detention was identical as the day before only a different sentence: _I must not talk back to teachers_. They spent more time writing in silence, Michael was noticeably slower as if intently focused on getting all the words right. This time however though, Grant made them both start again, Scorpius for being too fast and Michael for being too slow. It was through gritted teeth that he went back to writing, he went slower and Michael went faster and again Grant wasn't satisfied, Scorpius was now too slow and Michael's handwriting was too terrible again. Scorpius was going to run out of ink if Grant kept that up. However Grant must have been feeling generous - or tired - as he dismissed them without comment after that, they had missed curfew not to mention dinner. Michael didn't seem to care, in fact he didn't even change out of his robes, just kicked off his shoes and slipped into bed. Scorpius thought he was asleep before his head hit the pillow.

Scorpius lay awake though, thinking. Should he go to Calderon and complain? He had no doubts that Calderon would side with him _but_... he'd should at least wait a bit until they settled in. He didn't believe Grant would warm up to them like Rose had said but he did think it may ease off once he got used to them, he couldn't keep up his current detention pace forever and he'd really not bother Calderon with his class issues unless it was important. Calderon probably had enough to deal with. Despite knowing him only two days he already despised Grant, at least possessed-Varanian had been consistently a jerk to everyone rather than faking niceness...

He awoke with a start, shaking and shivering with sweat sticking to his forehead, plastering his white-blond hair to his skull and his clothes clung to him. Again Scorpius was completely clueless to what he'd been dreaming about to get him into such a state, even his nightmares about Marvin in the past hadn't had such a physical effect on him. It was really starting to bother him but he didn't have time to dwell on it as he got dressed and went down for breakfast, cheering up greatly when Michael pointed out they didn't have Charms that day and they had a double Defense Against the Dark Arts in the afternoon. They had Herbology with Eben - the teacher had specifically asked them to call them, Scorpius wasn't being deliberately disrespectful - first and then would get to meet the new Transfiguration teacher who was so highly praised. Then again, Grant was highly praised so Scorpius wasn't sure what to expect.

"Have you guys seen the paper?!" Molly burst out at breakfast, she'd taken to sitting with them due to no one else wanting to. Scorpius felt bad for her for having friends who were so mean as to abandon her just for having a squib sister - although he wasn't sure why, did they not realize how amazing Molly was? - but couldn't complain at getting to spend more time with her.

"No, the paper is boring," Albus complained through a mouthful of food.

"Al, don't speak with your mouth full," Michael chastised him and Albus rolled his eyes.

"It doesn't matter if its boring, its smart to be kept up to date with current events," Corin pointed out, he and Maurice also kept sitting with Scorpius for reasons he wasn't completely sure of. Rose hated it, she shot daggers looks at Maurice every meal which Maurice didn't even acknowledge. He also wore those gloves for some reason.

"What does it say then?" Abby seemed to decide to ask before they could veer of tangent.

"Word's out about the attack on Hogwarts, the public is enraged," Molly told them and no one looked bored, "they're furious at Uncle Harry and the Auror Office for not preventing it, they think since Varanian was Headmaster he had special access figured out a way in to attack. They blame the Auror Office for letting Varanian escape and not catching him, there was a riot outside of the Ministry yesterday afternoon over it, thirteen people are in St Mungo's still and seven are in custody. People are furious. Calderon's pretty much a hero now though."

"Calderon was always a hero," Scorpius pointed out defensively which was more or less true, the very first night that Scorpius had met him, Calderon had saved the lives of everyone on the Hogwarts Express at the risk of his own. He _was_ a hero and Scorpius continued to look up to him, "and its stupid anyway, Varanian had nothing to do with the attack. If anything they should be outraged that they don't believe the truth and hunt innocent people."

"Erm..." Abby began awkwardly and Scorpius realized all of them - minus Maurice - were suddenly looking anywhere than at him. No one said a word.

"Varanian is innocent. You-You do believe that, right?"

"We know that _you_ believe it," Albus said slowly and Scorpius felt flooded with anger.

"But you guys don't?"

"We know what its like to your tampered with, it really does seem like the truth-"

"It doesn't seem like the truth, it _is_ the truth! Varanian's innocent!"

"Innocent people don't run," Abby said quietly, "and it makes sense, I mean, Headmasters have special knowledge about the school and stuff. It could be how they got through the defenses."

"NO! Varanian had nothing to do with it! I can't believe none of you believe me!"

"Think about it," Albus started again, "you hated Varanian so much and now suddenly you're defending him? You don't think that's a sign that that evil prick messed with your head?"

"I'm defending him because he's innocent!" Scorpius yelled furiously and they jumped at how loudly he'd spoken but he didn't care, it was one thing for random Aurors to not believe him but his _own_ friends? "he was possessed! I bet his weird illness and headaches were caused by the Specter taking its toll on him, in fact I think he tried to fight it or something because in those weird bursts of niceness some of the things he used to say... I'm not saying he's a saint that we have to worship him but he is innocent and he's certainly not the Shadow Master! Innocent people don't deserve to be hunted down and have their lives in danger for no reason while the Shadows get a free pass to do whatever they want because the Aurors are too busy chasing Varanian to care! He didn't choose to be possessed, he can't help it that he was born a metamorphmagus!"

"Its an interesting theory," Maurice spoke up for the first time, his head propped up by his hand while his other hand was making the translation necklace work, "there's no way of knowing whether its true that a possessed metamorphmagus can hide the eyes or not, we don't know a lot about it, in fact no one's quite sure what the Specters are or where they come from. I believe you though, Scor, I'm guessing Varanian was the white soul?"

"Yes," Scorpius said gratefully and Maurice nodded in understanding, "although he's gray now that he killed Duvall to save my life. The Specters can't possess him now, they can't possess gray souls."

"You lost me," Albus pointed out, the exact details on how the Blood Runes worked had been left out of the paper. In fact Scorpius wasn't even sure the Aurors knew. A sudden pang of fear crossed his mind, did the Aurors realize he'd killed a man? Thankfully the bell announced them to head to classes and they started leaving the hall, still in a group until they went their separate ways.

Herbology was as boring as last time but they finished their recap and apparently next lesson would move on to what they were learning that year, he'd talked to Professor Longbottom about the lesson plans so everything should be alright. Scorpius hoped it was something practical, any kind of plant was better than listening to Eben drone on for an hour and he had heard that second year was more practical for Herbology. He couldn't wait until Professor Longbottom recovered though. They headed out to Transfiguration, Scorpius wasn't looking forward to it for once and he didn't join in the 'guess-the-teacher' discussion.

In fact he was still in a foul mood from his dream earlier. And from Grant. And from his friends not believing him. And having new teachers when he'd liked the old ones. His fists clenched angrily as he passed more Aurors. And the Aurors? How could he forget the Aurors? Patrolling around the school, they were either disbelieving dummies or treacherous Shadows. He was _so_ angry. Why was he stuck listening to lectures on last year's work while murderers were patrolling the school? Any of whom could be after him? The scar on his left wrist started to burn with a worryingly familiar sensation.

_No, no, no, I'm not angry,_ Scorpius told himself firmly, _you've got it confused, I'm completely happy and life is perfect_. The pain in his wrist intensified, he grinned through gritted teeth and tried to force his anger down. His eyes darted to his wrist, there was a small band of fire circling where his scar was but it wasn't hurting him.

"Go away," Scorpius hissed at the fire on his wrist, waving his arm and willing it to vanish before his friends in front of him noticed. It didn't and he felt another wave of anger, "go away! No-I mean I'm not angry!"

It was too late though, a burst of flame shot out from his hand and towards one of the portraits in the direction he'd been waving his arm at in an attempt to put out the fire. He cringed and his friends stopped in shock. The fire never struck the painting though. It turned into a lump of ball of water and instead just dampened it, the trio of elderly wizards in the picture started complaining loudly at being soaked but Scorpius was more interested in who had stopped the fire. His wrist was no longer burning either. Scorpius turned and saw one of their new Transfiguration professor was standing there with his wand out aimed at the fire. Scorpius groaned and put his head in his hands, now the new guy was going to all Grant on him. _Great way to make a first impression!_

* * *

_**Thanks to:** Aya Diefair, Winged-panther1, Lucifersdaughter, SDF and Guest for reviewing!_

**_Is Grant gonna eat his words?_**  
_He has a reason for being like that with Scorpius. Michael just gets it because his defense of Scorpius really got on Grant's nerves_

**_Is Micheal gonna be a mentor to Vern and Orous?_**  
_Vern yes, Orous not so much_

**_Is Calderon gonna be the same mad genius we love?_**  
_Basically yes but you will see a different side of him this book later on_

**_Shall Corin be involved in plot?_**  
_He's not as major as some but yes_

**_Would you like some taco flavored pizza?_**  
_Sure, never had that before_

**_Does she remind him of the good times he had of Quidditch? Perhaps subconsciously?_**  
_Its not much to do with his crush on her exactly (he liked her before he even knew she played Quidditch) but subconsciously yeah he does associate her with good memories of Quidditch_

_Also its not a question exactly but I wanted to address Patronuses, I'm not going to tell you what Scorpius' or anyone's Patronus is because I don't ruin it (or haven't chosen it yet) but get your guesses in if you want. Scorpius' Patronus was the first one I planned though (unless you count Calderon's because chapter 7 was one of the first scenes in my head, always knew that would happen and same for the end of book 5) but we will get to Patronuses real soon, as usual when I write this stuff just ends up being longer than it is in my head_


	12. II: Reactions

_**Author's Note:** I just want to apologize real quickly for taking longer to update than usual, I know this is going to make me sound like a bit of a wimp but I've had a toothache the past few days and I'm finding it hard to concentrate on my writing with it so its taken me longer than usual. I am sorry_

* * *

"I-I'm sorry, professor," Scorpius stammered awkwardly feeling both embarrassed and afraid of the guy being another Grant and crucifying him for it, "I didn't mean to, it was an accident."

"Better than doing it in your sleep I suppose," Albus muttered unhelpfully as the new professor flicked his wand again to clean up the water before coming over to them.

"It was an accident, you say?" the new professor - Florian, if Scorpius remembered correctly - asked looking at him thoughtfully with his violently violet eyes.

"Yes," Scorpius managed more firmly, "I just... I lost control, I didn't mean to cause fire."

"Well then stop there my dear boy!" Florian exclaimed and grinned wildly, clapping together his bandaged hands cheerfully, "uncontrolled bursts of magic happen to us all, especially to the young although it does happen to adults too, not that many would like to admit it, mind. Don't worry about it, you didn't get hurt and nor did anyone else so all is good with the world.l"

"Why does it still happen even when you've started learning magic?" Michael asked curiously out of nowhere but Florian didn't seem to mind. Scorpius was just relieved to not be in any trouble.

"Excellent question! You may have noticed that magic is linked to our emotions, both are a part of us, right down to our very core, right down to our souls themselves. When in the grip of a powerful emotion you can lose control, such as blurting out hurtful words in anger for example and its no different with magic, except instead of saying words you might magically start a fire for instance. As we grow we - generally - gain better control over both our emotions and magic so the instances lessen and go away near completely, only in extreme emotional turmoil or stress you can be overcome again though and lose control. Tell me, were you feeling any particularly strong emotion right now?"

"No," Scorpius lied quickly, afraid of being asked why and not wishing to divulge - or lie some more - to a virtual stranger. Although he was glad for the seeming lack of punishment. Florian raised an eyebrow at this but didn't lose his grin, if anything it widened.

"Ah, well then we come to the other possible reason for the uncontrolled outburst. Power," Florian told him gleefully, "some wizards are naturally more powerful than others, power _wants_ to be used, that's why it likes to sneak out when your emotions uncage it but sometimes it can sneak out for no reason. Well especially if you haven't done any magic in awhile, it builds up and bursts out. Its rarer than emotional outbursts but not unheard of, best you try do some more spellwork, practice in your own time if you aren't getting enough of a workout in class. Class, that's where we all should be now."

"We're in your class," Rose piped up as they carried on with the professor to what had used to have been Professor McGonagall's classroom. The other students had already gone in and sat down without bothering to wait for the professor.

"Excellent!" Florian said cheerfully before winking at Scorpius, "I'll make sure you get some practical for you pent-up power."

They went to sit down but due to being late there wasn't any seats for all five of them to sit near each other, Michael and Scorpius grabbed two seats together by the wall at the front, Abby and Albus got another two together more in the middle and Rose opted for a spare seat next to the smart Ravenclaw boy that consistently came in the top or near the top of the class for most things.

"Good morning!" Florian greeted the class, clapping his bandaged hands together again and continuing to beam at them while his eyes darted in every direction to take in all their faces, Michael already had his notebook out, "I'm Professor Florian, your new Transfiguration professor as due to McGonagall's promotion, she is no longer able to teach this class. Transfiguration is a rather tricky branch of magic, you may look at it as a bad thing and think its too difficult and quit but personally, I love a challenge a lot more than something so easy it bores me. The harder things are often those most worth doing. Can you really blame Transfiguration for being difficult? You're forcing things to become something that they're not, its only natural for the object to fight against having itself fundamentally changed. Now this is only a single lesson but I thought I'd do something different with you, today we're going to start practicing two spells, a new and an old."

"_Corriglobo_ you learned last year, to turn a spherical shape into a box shape. A simple enough spell which is why its a good partner for the Reversal Spell, the spell that reverses the effects of most Transfiguration spells and is rather useful. The incantation for that is _Conversio_, today you'll be using both," Florian paused to conjure a ball that he tossed from hand to hand idly as he gazed at the class, "I'm going to be asking Transfiguration related questions, if I believe you should know the answer then raise your hand. I'm going to ask the first one and throw this to someone with their hands raised, tell me your name - unless you've already said it - and answer. Answer correctly and you'll earn five points for your house and get a shot at using one of the spells on it - _Corriglobo_ if its still a ball or _Conversio_ if its a box, answer incorrectly and you have to throw the ball to someone else - someone of the opposite house unless none have their hands up - with their hand up to try. Oh and whichever house gets the most correct answers gets to skip tomorrow's homework assignment as well as all those points obviously, that make sense? Okay, first question: What is the difference between Charms and Transfiguration?"

Almost every hand shot up into the air, both Ravenclaw and Gryffindor faces brimming with eagerness at the friendly competition to get off homework and get points. Scorpius raised his hand, not for the rewards but because he wanted to practice the spells and he knew the answer, it was a basic question. Florian's violently violet eyes found him immediately, winking again before tossing him the ball. Florian wasn't a particular good shot but Scorpius' wrist snaked out and caught the ball nonetheless.

"Impressive reflexes! You'd make a good Seeker," Florian exclaimed clapping his hands together and if possible widening his grin, he had very white teeth.

"I am a Seeker. Scorpius Malfoy," Scorpius said, remembering you were supposed to say your name, "Charms is adding properties to an object, it focuses on changing what an object _does_ while Transfiguration is changing what an object is, altering its structure."

"Excellent answer! Five points for Gryffindor! Now have a go."

Scorpius changed the ball into a lightweight box easily and tossed it to a Ravenclaw girl with their hand raised after Florian asked the next question, she got the answer right but the Reversal Spell had no effect. Florian advised this was alright and for the next person to try it and the next, to just keep trying until it was a ball once more. It stayed a box for longer than it was a ball, although as more people tried it became a more rounded box than the one Scorpius had turned it into. Scorpius got the rounded box back soon enough and the reversal spell worked completely for him, it was a ball again. Professor McGonagall never did anything like that lesson. Florian just asked questions and kept track of the score in his head until the lesson ended, Scorpius didn't really care about the score but he still answered a fair amount of questions and excelled at the spells.

"Well done class! Enjoy your lunch and I'll see you tomorrow," Florian dismissed them cheerfully as he took the box-ball - it was somewhere in between at that particular point - but no one moved although Scorpius would of if Michael had, it was Reuben who quickly raised his hand, "yes, Mr Tear?"

"Which house won the no-homework?" Reuben asked and everyone perked up, apparently that was why they'd opted to remain. Florian laughed heartily and clapped his hands together once more.

"It was a draw so no homework for all!" Florian told them and threw his hands up, the class actually cheered and started shuffling out of the classroom. If all his classes were like that then Scorpius wasn't surprised he was such a popular teacher.

Scorpius supposed Florian was alright, he was a million times better than Grant at least but he still would loyally say he preferred Professor McGonagall. His friends were praising Florian while Albus moped at lunch over not having Potions that day but Scorpius cheered up as he looked at the schedule, after a grueling session of History of Magic he would be rewarded by a double Defense Against the Dark Arts and it was the first class the following day too, unless you counted the Astronomy they had that night in between. You had less classes on the day after Astronomy for having gotten less sleep than usual so there was just double Transfiguration after lunch then the weekend.

They carried on with the Disarming Charm again in Defense Against the Dark Arts, Scorpius did have to have a go again but thankfully succeeded in doing properly without knocking Michael unconscious. Before the end of the lesson everyone could do it - even Michael - and Professor Ashain had them practice it differently, instead of one person standing idly while the other disarmed them they had to both try disarm the other and see who could do it first. Scorpius was having a great time, it was more more challenging to be the quickest to draw and Michael actually had good reflexes.

Another detention with Grant quickly soured his optimistic cheerfulness though, at least it was the last one until Saturday unless they aggravated him somehow. They knew better than to speak, just to shut up and let Grant find faults that weren't there with Scorpius' speed of writing and continue to disbelieve that Dyslexia existed with Michael. They missed dinner again and had to go straight to Astronomy, not Scorpius' favorite subject but it was alright and he was so glad to have a teacher he knew. Scorpius brushed it off and dismissed Grant's idiotic words but Michael looked bothered as they made their way through the halls, not passing anyone but Aurors and the occasional prefect at that hour but the prefects were aware of which students had Astronomy so they weren't in trouble.

"Don't let it get to you," Scorpius said after awhile of unusual silence, "Grant's a jerk, who cares what he says?"

"I'm not," Michael brushed it off quickly, "better than Varanian's detentions anyway."

Scorpius wasn't convinced but they arrived at the Astronomy tower at that point and all thoughts of Michael and Grant flew out of his head, the last time he'd been there had been with Duvall puppetting his grandfather's corpse. How dare he desecrate his grandfather's corpse like that? It still upset him to think about it and as he starting climbing the stairs, the echo of Duvall's laughter remained even though the man was dead. They reached the top of the stairs, the scene still playing in his mind. That was where Duvall had tossed his grandfather's body away like trash... his grandfather had deserved better. And so had Varanian, he'd been framed for murder for saving Scorpius' life after he'd ran after Duvall like an idiot.

"Are you alright?" Michael asked worriedly and Scorpius realized tears had started leaking from his eyes at some point, he hastily wiped them from his face.

"Fine," Scorpius muttered, brushing it off as they took their seats in the already crowded room.

He found it extremely hard to concentrate on his work in Astronomy, his eyes kept drifting and his mind replaying the final few moments of Duvall's life. Scorpius couldn't bring himself to feel any sympathy though, he was glad Varanian had killed him. He barely said two words to his friends all lesson and if anyone had asked him then he wouldn't have had a clue what they'd been learning about that night, he'd been that distracted. He still was, he lay in bed thinking about it for hours afterwards and drifted into an uneasy sleep...

_"Scorpius... Come to me..."_

Scorpius' breathing was ragged and panicked when he woke up, his clothes were glued to him from his own icily cold sweat but he had no idea why. Frustratedly he got dressed, muttering a string of curse words he shouldn't even know at stupid dreams he didn't remember. For some reason it reminded him to glance at his scarred wrist, his eyes narrowed worriedly, the scar was more livid on his skin or maybe he was imagining it. He had to be imagining it, he was just tired from stupid weird dreams. He just said he hadn't slept well as he trudged along to breakfast with the others.

"Hey Dragon-breath!" James' voice barked as they arrived at the Great Hall, he was striding over to them with his cronies looking angry but Michael looked unfazed.

"What?" Michael wondered tiredly.

"What the hell are you playing at? Turning on your housemates and getting me a detention! How dare you rat me out to that Potions bitch-"

"Hey!" Albus shouted angrily jumping in front of his brother, "don't you dare call Professor Vipera a bitch! She's a very beautiful and wonderful woman!"

"Um... what?" James muttered seeming completely caught off guard by his brother's random defense of the new teacher, not knowing about Albus' crush.

"You heard me! Lay off her!"

"Um... yeah, whatever, my quarrel is with your boyfriend the betrayer. How dare you rat out a member of the same house as you! Have you no house pride? No shame, Dragon-breath? And then missing dinner so I couldn't confront you like a coward. I'll get you for this."

"I had detentions with Grant!" Michael protested.

"Who are you to talk to complain about him telling on you just because you're in the same house?!" Rose snapped eying her cousin disapprovingly, "you _hit_ him and you're in the same house! That's worse!"

"Is not! Besides he's not much a of Gryffindor if he hangs out with psychotic spawn of-"

"James, just get over it already," a new voice interrupted and their heads swiveled, Scorpius was surprised to see the speaker was Dom Weasley who seemed to hold herself with a much more confident air than she'd had last year, she also wore her hair differently to show off her face rather than hide it, she looked better like that, "being jealous that Scorpius is a better Seeker than you is no excuse to harass him and his friends, one of whom is your own cousin and the other is your own brother. Back off."

"Or what?" James said daringly, Dom simply raised an eyebrow at him and put a hand a hand on her hip.

"Do you really want to go there?" Dom quipped back and without another word James walked into the Great Hall and went to sit down, taking his friends with him.

"Thanks," Albus offered and Dom waved it off.

"It was nothing, Aurelius says its better to be more involved with the lives of your family members especially with this Shadow War."

"Are you _still_ on about Aurelius?"

"Of course," Dom nodded as they headed into the hall too and joined Molly to have their breakfast, Dom still with them, "just because I'm in Hogwarts again doesn't mean we stopped writing to each other. He's actually been giving me some good advice about classes. And we've been been swapping theories about the Shadow attack on the school. He's still a nervous wreck though. Afraid to be outside after Diagon Alley and afraid to be inside because of Corvinus' sudden resurgence in social life."

"Nobody cares," Rose pointed out piling her plate with bacon as Corin and Maurice joined them.

"He thinks we should be careful. Don't know why the Shadows attacked after all. For all we know they could have _wanted_ to be defeated by Calderon to get the Aurors placed here. More Aurors here means less looking for the Shadows after all or they plan to infiltrate the Aurors. They could be after a specific person - staff or student - and the whole attack was just a cover to go after them. If the dead teacher wasn't the target then they could still be after him or her or them. We don't know how they got in or out either."

"Well what are we supposed do about it?" Corin complained from the other side of them, "we're not the adults, its their job to protect us not the other way around. Maman is most appalled, nothing like this has ever happened while she's been running Beauxbatons and she hopes Marius can do a better job than Varanian or Elwood. I for one have complete faith in him."

"Did they ever identify the person that Calderon killed?" Maurice asked abruptly, once again his head was propped up on his hand and he was holding his translator necklace in the other, interest flickered on his normally neutral expression, "that was cool."

"Killing someone isn't cool," Rose complained glaring at the younger boy but Maurice's cold smile indicated he thought otherwise.

"He deserved it," Abby said darkly, violently stabbing at her food, "that was the one who vaporized my father's arm."

"There's been nothing in the papers on it," Molly offered after swallowing the mouthful of food that had been preventing her from answering.

"Aurelius reckons either they didn't want the public to know because it was someone recognizable or they couldn't identify them and didn't want to admit it because its just embarrassing," Dom told them before jabbing a finger at Abby, Albus, Rose and Corin, followed a second later by Scorpius, "you guys should ask your parents and you should ask Calderon or Ashain because they almost certainly know and might tell you."

"The rest of us don't care who the guy was, it doesn't matter and its none of our business anyway," Rose pointed out stubbornly, "the Aurors will deal with it, they'll catch Varanian and the Shadows."

"I doubt it," Maurice stated dismissively and Rose's eyes blazed with anger once more.

"Will too!"

"Look at their track record, was it Aurors who caught Grindlewald? No, it was Dumbledore, a teacher not an Auror. Was it Aurors who killed Voldemort? No, it was Harry Potter, a teenager at the time not yet an Auror. They won't even admit there's a war going on, people are dying and not just in England. I reckon the Aurors are using us as bait, they're protecting the school because they want it to be attacked again."

"Daddy wouldn't do that!"

"Yes he would, what's the safety of a few dumb children in comparison to stopping a formidable threat?" Maurice asked coldly, "your 'daddy' is lying to you if you're actually as arrogant to believe that he would put the world at risk just for your pathetic life, there are much more important things than children and any honest parent will tell you that. Anything else and they're just lying to you because they don't think you're mature enough to handle the truth, you're only as valuable as your last accomplishment."

Rose opened her mouth to reply, looking angrier than ever but was interrupted by a fluttering of wings as the owls arrived with the mail, dropping a scattering of letters before them. It was quite a big haul but then it was Friday on the first week, Abby got three letters from two different owls, Albus and Rose both got two from the same owl - usually that meant their younger siblings had written to them too, Molly and Corin both got one letter and the Daily Prophet, Maurice got one letter, Scorpius got two letters and a package. Dom was the most interesting, she received two letters from two different owls and a third letter from a _vulture_, which was the letter she eagerly tore open first. Michael got nothing.

"Um... That's a vulture?" Corin said slowly gesturing to the bird as it flew off.

"Very observant, genius," Dom offered sarcastically and glanced up briefly from the letter, "I know its a vulture. Aurelius wanted to see if other birds could deliver mail, he's been sending vultures and they seem to be perfectly capable. You just never noticed because I don't usually sit with you."

"Vultures are creepy," Rose muttered as they all turned to their own mail, except Michael who just ate quietly.

It was strange to recieve a reply so quickly, the last letter he'd gotten from his parents was panicked worry over hearing about the attack and he'd replied that he was perfectly fine and they shouldn't worry. He couldn't help but feel disappointed, every day he hoped for a letter from Varanian with more information about the whole Auror and Shadow situation but got none, for all he knew Varanian could've been hurt or killed already. He would have to do something. The letters were both from home as was the package, a short one from his grandmother telling him the package was a slab of chocolate and the other from his parents asking how he was doing.

"I have to go," Maurice announced as he shoved the letter into his pocket looking the closest to upset that Scorpius had seen him, "I have to get to Charms earlier so I can practice not failing."

"Good riddance," Rose offered but it was unheard by Maurice who was no longer using his translator as he hurried off, leaving a nearly full plate of food and an untouched goblet of pumpkin juice.

"Give him a break. That albino kid, Orous, is just as good at him at spellwork," Corin said defensively.

"So?"

"So his dad expects him to be the best or he considers him a failure, even when Maurice is the best in the class he gets told off for not getting a perfect score. He's under a lot of pressure and his dad's furious at him for sharing the spotlight with the albino and furious that he's not good at flying. You know what Roman said about the attack? 'Don't let it interfere with your studies' and that was it, didn't even ask or care whether Maurice was alright. He just cares about results and threatens to abandon Maurice like his biological mother did if he doesn't meet his impossible standards. His dad's evil."

"No excuse to act like a jerk."

"You're a jerk," Corin countered childishly and scoffed down his food quickly before following after his friend.

"So... you guys are still trying out for Chasers right?" Molly asked out of the blue as she put down her letter and turned to them.

"Yep!" Albus told her cheerfully, "can't wait for next week."

"Well good, because at this rate you might get it by default if no one shows up. Dom, do you know if your brother is still trying out? He might finally get to not be a reserve."

"I don't know," Dom shrugged, "it is his OWL year. I know he's taking his studies seriously. He got prefect and he's taking that seriously too. I'm the only one of my siblings to not get prefect. Why do you think no one will try out?"

"Something my dad said," Molly mumbled and they went back to finishing their breakfast, everyone insisting people would try out.

* * *

_**Thanks to:** Lucfiersdaughter, Winged-panther1 and SDF for reviewing!_

**_What do you mean a different side of him?_**  
_I meant more what he was like in the past_

**_How dare he treat Michael like that and say that about his dyslexia?_**  
_Michael defending Scorpius pissed him off and he really does think Michael's making dyslexia up to get out of a detention, he grew up in a wizarding family and doesn't know that much about muggle ailments_

**_Why does Rose hate Maurice?_**  
_Because of the thing in book 1 where he told her to use a Thestral tail hair wand you had to have seen death and she called him a liar but was too scared to try it, it made her feel humiliated and calling her a coward especially really got to her. She hasn't forgiven him for it even though everyone else probably forgot about it but that's why she hates him, he never apologized or anything_

**_Is Scorpius going through Post Traumatic Stress or anxiety?_**  
_Sort of yeah  
_

**_Will the Slytherin be banning together with the other houses for this one?_**  
_I can't say but I will say I don't consider Slytherin an evil house, especially after the wars and everything in the past twenty and I don't think the prejudices about blood purity would be there or half as strong as they were. There's good and bad people in every house and everyone will have to pick a side eventually  
_


	13. II: Patronuses

Scorpius was starting to worry about the upcoming tryouts, would people really not want to be on the team just because it was being led by the sister of a squib? Were people really that bad? The thoughts were banished as they passed by the Aurors, wondering which of them was the Shadow, had one of them succeeded in killing Varanian? Was that why Scorpius had heard nothing from him? He tried to put it out of his mind as they reached the Defense Against the Dark Arts, the tryouts weren't for a week anyway and not having to see Grant cheered him up immensely. Professor Ashain ushered them into the classroom and they took their seats.

"I don't know if anyone has wondered why you have three Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons a week rather than two?" Professor Ashain began and people exchanged looks for a moment but it seemed to be a rhetorical question as the professor continued, "its like that for all years and even NEWT students who didn't take the class have to have one lesson to learn this very particular and very important charm. You all know about the Shadows and the threat they pose, now while you are reasonably safe with staff and Aurors to protect you and the Ministry don't believe the Shadows are going to attack again anyway, it is still useful to know this magic.

"Those creatures that appeared at the Great Hall at the Welcoming Feast were Dementors, in case you didn't know. The spell we are working on in these lessons will not only repel them but it has been discovered that it also repels the Specters, which is why its important that you learn it. It also repels Lethifolds and some other Dark creatures. Now you probably also remember the silver Dragon that Calderon created, the huge one that chased away the Dementors? Despite the lack of a wand or incantation, that Dragon was Calderon's Patronus. And that's what we're going to be learning today and every Friday hereafter."

"We're going to be creating Dragons?!" one of the Slytherin students burst out and their was excited conversations throughout the room, even the people who didn't usually like Defense Against the Dark Arts perked up, "awesomest spell ever!"

"What have I told you about raising your hand?!" Professor Ashain complained to the boy who shied back in his seat with a slightly abashed look but his sheepish smile remained, "and no, we're not creating Dragons. Everyone's Patronus takes on a different shape, almost always its a reflection of your own inner animal which would also be your animagus form if you ever became one. More err... magical creatures are much rarer but not unheard of as clearly Calderon's is a Dragon and Albus Dumbledore's was a Phoenix, insects and extinct animals have also been known to be Patronuses. You may suspect you know what your Patronus is already, you know yourself better than anyone after all but you won't know for sure until you cast. However sometimes your Patronus can be a reflection on who you love instead, sharing the form of their Patronus or animagus or having a complimentary animal and sometimes your Patronus will change later on in life if you fall in love."

"My dad has the same Patronus as my grandfather's animagus form!" Albus burst out excitedly and Professor Ashain rolled his eyes.

"Hands! And yes sometimes your Patronus can be the same as your parents, my Patronus is the same as my mother's was although I don't think that's very common. However as eager as you may be to find your own Patronus I do not think its likely you will find out in this first lesson. You see there's two kinds of Patronuses, corporeal and incorporeal. Corporeal are the solid ones that take a specific form, they are more powerful but also more difficult to create. Incorporeal ones are more like a silvery shield, easier to produce but not as powerful so you'll more likely get that before the corporeal one.

"The Patronus Charm is very ancient and mysterious magic as well as being fairly advanced but its never before been taught at Hogwarts so don't be disappointed if you find it challenging, many talented adult wizards have trouble with it. However Harry Potter had good results teaching it to the DA, personally I think its because of the nature of the spell and its fairly unusual way of being casted. The most important part of the spell is not the wand movement or concentrating on the incantation, the most important thing you need when casting this spell is a memory. Essentially the Patronus, whether corporeal or incorporeal is a force of positive energy and comprised of your most positive thoughts and emotions. And as children are generally more effected by their emotions it may in fact work in your favor, its why I believe some adults have more trouble with it because generally you don't want your emotions to interfere with your magic but in this case you have to channel the positive emotion into producing your Patronus Guardian.

"There isn't really a wand movement for this charm, just aim in the direction of your enemy and some people find flourishing it makes it easier to channel. The incantation is _Expecto Patronum_," Professor Ashain had drawn his wand while he'd been speaking and flourished it as he said the incantation, immediately a silvery turtle emerged from the tip of his wand and there was gasps of amazement as it glided over their heads before vanishing, "simple enough, see? Although it is a lot easier to cast when you're not in imminent danger, the particular creatures that Patronuses protect against are known for affecting your mind and emotions, unhinging you as it were which makes it more difficult to focus on what you need to cast the spell which as I mentioned is a memory.

"A good memory, a happy memory, a powerful memory, the strongest you've got and you need to be thinking of it when you cast the spell, more than that you need to let it fill your mind completely. I want everyone to get out your wands and close your eyes, I want you to choose a memory and I want you to focus on it. But first though make sure you know the incantation, its _Expecto Patronum_ remember? Repeat it after me, _Expecto Patronum_."

"_Expecto Patronum_," the class chorused as they got out their wands eagerly.

"Well done, now close your eyes and think of your happy memory everyone," Professor Ashain told them and Scorpius frowned as he mulled it over, what happy memory could he chose? All the memories with his family just reminded him that his grandfather being gone from them and all the memories of his friends made his guilt resurface, it felt wrong to use them as his good memory. He thought of Quidditch or Quidditch practices with Molly and that made him grin stupidly but it was wiped off by James having to have been there. It would have to be good enough though, "does everyone have a memory chosen? Alright when I count down from three I want you to say the incantation, open your eyes and flourish your wand unless you feel extremely strongly that it'll impede your magic. Everyone got that?

"Three... Everyone think of your memory, just because I'm counting down doesn't mean you should stop thinking about it, let it play out in your mind. Focus."

Scorpius tried to focus on it but having to dodge such vicious Bludgers directed at him was distracting, he tried to ignore James' malicious smirk. Stupid James.

"Two... Let the memory fill you up completely, think about how the memory made you feel, the good emotions associated with it, feel those emotions now. Focus."

Scorpius tried to focus on how he'd felt but how had he felt? Annoyed with James? _Bad mind, shut up_, he chastised himself mentally, he'd have to ignore James. Was it too late to pick a different memory?

"One!"

Scorpius opened his eyes and flourished his wand, saying the incantation along with everyone else but nothing happened. All around him he saw wisps of silver smoke or cloudy puffs coming out of everyone's wand, almost everyone anyway, Scorpius had nothing and Nott seemed to be only one he could see that also didn't succeed. Even Michael produced a silver cloud and it generally took Michael longer than most to learn spells, in fact Michael seemed to have the most amount of silver stuff in the class.

"Well done! Better than I did on my first try, it takes time to get it so don't be disheartened if you didn't succeed this time but everyone who produced anything silver should be proud of yourselves. In fact everyone take five points to your houses, now let's keep trying."

Scorpius could honestly say it was the first Defense Against the Dark Arts class he both disliked and failed to excel at, almost everyone may have produced something silver the first try but it was harder to repeat it. Rose didn't succeed beyond her first try which seemed to frustrate her immensely and despite doing brilliantly initially Michael produced a few more wisps then stopped being able to do it, generally most people struggled to reproduce it initially but started to get the hang of it more - and were able to it more consistently - nearer the end of the lesson. Of course there were a few exceptions, the Slytherin boy who'd called out and Abby were particularly good at producing silver wisps almost every time.

Scorpius however produced nothing. No Patronus. No shield. No cloud. No some. No puffs. No wisps. No specks. Not a sliver of silver left his wand all lesson. He tried switching memories and doing different ones, tried focusing on them, tried focusing on how he was feeling at the time - which he found especially difficult, how was he supposed to remember how he was feeling? - and had got nothing. It was officially the worst he'd ever done on a spell, Scorpius felt like a complete failure. Was there something wrong with him? He'd always been naturally good at spellwork, he'd never done so badly before.

It put him in a glum mood for the rest of the day, it didn't help that his friends were excited about it, even Rose despite her lack of success and he spent a grueling lunch listening to them discuss their Patronuses. Maybe it was because he was a gray soul that he couldn't do it? But no, Professor Ashain was a gray soul and he could cast a Patronus as was Calderon, in fact by all accounts Calderon had killed someone minutes before he cast a Patronus so clearly that wasn't a factor. Maybe there was just something wrong with him? Maybe he just didn't have a Patronus? What was wrong with him? Was his magic broken?

They finished lunch and went to another Transfiguration lesson, it was just as interactive and different as the first but Scorpius excelled at everything. It didn't make him feel much better, no amount of success in Transfiguration could make up for such a disappointment in Defense Against the Dark Arts. He felt like he'd failed Professor Ashain somehow for doing badly in his lesson, what did the professor think of him? Professor Ashain had nearly died to save his life and how did Scorpius repay him? By completely failing to cast a Patronus.

"So Library or Common Room to get started on our homework?" Rose asked as they left Transfiguration.

"I thought we were visiting my dad in the hospital wing?" Abby wondered.

"Oh yeah, I meant after."

"You forgot, didn't you?" Albus said teasingly.

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"When did we decide this?" Scorpius interrupted before the cousins could bicker too much.

"Yesterday when you guys were in detention," Abby answered before looking worried, "you and Michael don't have to come if you don't want to, of course."

"No its fine, it'll be good to see how Professor Longbottom's doing."

They headed to the hospital wing, only Michael looking uncomfortable and Scorpius had an idea why. Professor Longbottom was Abby's dad, he was also a family friend to Rose and Albus who knew him and Scorpius knew him from his detentions whereas he was just a normal teacher to Michael, Michael didn't complain or back out though. Scorpius actually cheered up slightly at the thought of seeing Professor Longbottom, it would be good to see how the professor was doing.

The hospital wing was unusually busy, quite a few beds were occupied by still recovering staff and Scorpius' eyes narrowed as he saw Grant was having his injured leg checked over on one of the beds. Professor Longbottom thankfully wasn't very near him, he was sitting propped up in bed against a stack of pillows and was talking to the snowy-haired Head Healer that Scorpius didn't know the name of.

"We have to wait to get you a prosthetic I'm afraid," the healer was saying, "none of the injuries seem to respond to magical healing, its most odd, I mean some injuries are clearly caused by a spell that normally would respond to magical healing so I really don't understand why, I had to transfer Elwood to St Mungo's because there's not much I can do for him, I still don't think his odds are high of surviving the week. But anyway obviously we can't regrow your arm but we have to wait until your body naturally heals enough to get a prosthetic, otherwise its just going to aggravate the wound and make it worse, not to mention cause you pain."

"I understand, I was just asking," Professor Longbottom pointed out, he was looking unnaturally pale but smiled when he saw them, especially Abby, "Sweetheart, what a nice surprise!"

"Daddy!" Abby greeted him happily and went over to hug him slightly awkwardly.

It was as they got closer that Scorpius noticed the very prominent absence of the professor's left arm, there was a slight bandaged bulge on his left shoulder but no arm. Professor Longbottom was missing his arm, not just his hand or his forearm but his entire _arm_. It was one thing to hear about it but to actually see it made it so much worse, it was the professor's wand arm to boot, he'd lost his dominant arm.

They stayed in the hospital wing for awhile, mostly Abby was excitedly telling her father about her lessons as he'd asked before the professor asked them how they were doing too. They all gave similar accounts although Scorpius noticed his friends - like himself - only mentioned the positives, Scorpius and Michael said nothing of Grant's treatment of them and simply refrained from speaking of Charms at all, even after Grant had left. The head healer shooed them out to let Professor Longbottom rest after all, the professor insisted he was alright but Scorpius did notice he looked a little drained so they left.

They agreed on the Library and did some work on their homework, in particular there was a Charms essay that Scorpius was worried about due to Grant's behavior and he spent more time than usual making sure his facts were right and everything made sense. From the extremely slow way Michael was writing, Scorpius thought he was trying to make sure his spelling was passable - that or his wrist was just paining him especially badly - because of Grant's heavy criticism and unyielding belief that Michael was inventing Dyslexia. It reminded Scorpius of their detention with Grant souring their weekend and after dinner he went to bed with a sense of dread and the feeling of failure still hanging over his head.

* * *

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!_

**_Will Dom and Aurelius get together?_**  
_Not in this book_

**_So is Michael gonna get private tutoring from the potions mistress that Albus will be jealous off?_**  
_Soon enough_

**_Is Harry really gonna let the department make the same mistakes they made when he was a student?_**  
_He's not exactly letting them make the same mistakes, think about it from their point of view. Varanian did admit to the whole school that he was Shadow Master, to poisoning the teachers and set the Specters on them. He also did use the Blood Runes on students as well as attacking Calderon and Scorpius on more than one occasion, he interfered with people's mail, alter/erase people's memories and the last spell his wand used was the same one that sent Lucius Malfoy off the tower. Those are things that are facts that they know for sure. No one but Varanian, Calderon and Scorpius saw Duvall in the first place or the letters that vanished linking another person as the culprit. Also remember they don't know a lot about the Specters, all they have is Calderon's word that a Specter possessing Lucius and took his soul (Calderon claims to know this from talking to the Shadow Master speaking through Lucius, his vagueness on the conversation compared to his usual sharp memory makes them think his memory was tampered with. Even Varanian and Scorpius only know it because Calderon said so). As far as being able to hide possession by being a metamorphmagus they also have no way of knowing whether it was the truth and its also a double-edged sword, Varanian could also make his eyes go black to pretend he was possessed anyway. Then there's the fact that Varanian escaped before they could use Veritaserum or Legillimancy to test his word, from their point of view its like he ran away because he knew they could prove he was lying and he is still on the run rather than giving himself up. It doesn't help that Varanian wasn't well-liked, he wasn't close to the staff or anyone besides Calderon and frequently clashed with McGonagall in the past and he's considered smart, skilled and unhinged enough to be the Shadow Master. From the Aurors point of view the only thing he has going for him is the word of Scorpius (a traumatized child whose a Malfoy no less) and Calderon (whose sanity is questionable and due to his closeness to Varanian, Varanian has had plenty of access to to change his memories). The Aurors that Harry is closest to believe Varanian's guilt which doesn't help, Ron especially never liked Varanian or believed Scorpius and is angry about his daughter and nephew being hurt and wants justice for them and Cel obviously is pressing for Varanian's guilt and Harry values their opinion. Harry isn't completely convinced of Varanian's guilt though but he can't stop looking for a valid suspect who escaped custody on the word of two people, they can't prove his guilt either way and they really can't do it without Varanian, it doesn't help that they don't actually have a lot of leads on the Shadows anyway but they are still investigating people and things who aren't Varanian, it just isn't panning out  
_

**_Why do I sense future sexual tension between Rose and Maurice?_**  
_Because maybe their will be future sexual tension between Rose and Maurice, I like to put stuff in their to come back to_


	14. II: The Weekend

Predictably Scorpius woke up caked in sweat and not having any idea what he'd been dreaming about again, it was really getting on his nerves. He trudged along to breakfast with Michael and Albus, Abby and Rose joined them not long after and they ate away at their breakfast.

"Look at her," Albus said after awhile, nodding dreamily at the teacher's table where a quick glance revealed he'd sat to give himself a perfect view of Vipera, "she even manages to eat beautifully."

"She's eating awkwardly with one hand because of her injured wrist," Abby pointed out with an eyebrow raised.

"Yes but even she manages to make that look graceful," Albus informed them before scowling, "she's talking to Calderon, Koray and Ashain, you don't think they're trying to steal her from me are they?"

"Steal her from you?" Rose repeated, "for all you know she could have a husband and-and seven children at home."

"Well I can dream, can't I? And seriously, do you think they're trying to steal her from me?"

"Professor Ashain and Professor Koray are married," Scorpius told him firmly, "and Calderon doesn't date, your imaginary dream relationship is perfectly intact."

"Thank you."

"What are we talking about?" Corin asked as he and Maurice joined them, Maurice immediately putting his hand on his necklace to translate their words.

"Albus' crush on the new Potions Master or is it Potions Mistress?" Abby wondered and Corin gave a derisive snort as he started piling food onto his plate.

"That's just silly, you don't stand a chance dating a teacher."

"I can dream!" Albus protested.

"Crushes are stupid and childish and primitive and detract you from your studies," Maurice pointed out loftily, "you're an idiot. More intelligent people don't sink to such distractions."

"Well you're eleven, what do you know?"

"More than you, clearly."

"You're annoying, you know that?"

"If no one has anything nice to say than no one say anything at all, okay?" Michael intervened, ever the peacekeeper.

"I can't be the only one in love with a teacher," Albus said after all but a few seconds of everyone going back to their food, "doesn't anyone else have a crush?"

"Of course not," Corin answered looking offended that Albus could possibly suggest such a thing.

"No, I'm not an idiot," Maurice scoffed.

"Not really," Abby shrugged, "I mean I know people who I like or think are good looking but I'm not 'in love' with anyone like you are. Unless you count celebrities."

"Devin Copper," Rose blurted out and everyone looked surprised, except Corin and Maurice, Corin didn't look like he cared and Maurice snorted as if in disgust, "you know that really smart cute Ravenclaw boy?"

"We know who he is," Michael said quickly.

"Well him and what are you looking surprised for? Its less weird than Albus liking a teacher or Scorpius liking Molly, he's actually really nice."

"You like Molly?!" Albus wondered turning on Scorpius as did Abby, Scorpius' face burned as red as his crush's hair and he looked around quickly but Molly wasn't around. Thankfully. He wondered if that knowledge was something his friends hadn't been able to remember.

"Not so loud," Scorpius hissed.

"But you do?" Abby pressed in a slightly lower tone.

"Yes now shut up, she could be here any second."

"She's not going to appear out of thin air at any second and suddenly know you have a crush on he- oh hi Molly!" Albus told him and Scorpius looked around in panic but Molly wasn't there, he turned back to see Albus laughing, "I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist! Relax, mate, your secret's safe with us. But my cousin, seriously?"

"I'm disappointed in you," Corin pointed out sadly.

"Well... tough, Molly's amazing so back off," Scorpius growled irritably, he didn't feel like discussing it with his friends and he was still afraid of Molly appearing, "so what about you, Michael?"

"Me?" Michael wondered and seemed caught off guard as the spotlight turned to him, he lowered his head quickly and his mass of wild tangled hair nearly managed to hide the blush on his face that indicated what he said next wasn't entirely truthful, "I don't have a crush. And I'm not hungry. I'm just going to go to my detention with Grant early."

"You have a detention with Grant today?!" Albus burst out before groaning, "come on, we were supposed to practice flying today for the tryouts next week."

"Just do it without us, or tomorrow, you knew about this detention since the first class. I'm obviously not going to make the team and Scorpius is already all the team, just you guys practice."

"You wouldn't have got that detention in the first place if you had listened to me about not helping Vern."

"What do you have against your cousin?"

"He's a Dursley! Dursleys are bad!"

"You know that's pretty much the same attitude your brother has against Malfoys," Michael pointed out and Albus looked slightly flustered.

"That's completely different."

"How?"

"Because Scorpius is good once you get to know him whereas I've known Vern since forever and he sucks," Albus explained defensively, "all Dursleys do. His elder sister is one of the most boring people on the planet and his elder brother is an outright bully, we have a private war with them and we dread having to visit them. I don't know why we do anyway, you know his grandparents used to make my dad sleep in a _cupboard_ under the _stairs_."

"Maybe they were just poor?" Michael suggested dismissively, "my mum and I have had to live in the car before because things were so bad. You're doing just what your brother does, judging Vern for his family and not for himself. What specifically has Vern done to you?"

"It didn't sound like they were poor the way they said it!" Albus protested and folded his arms thoughtfully.

"Did you really live in your car?" Abby wondered, "was it magically extended or something? It had to be right, how could you live in a normal car?"

"Mudblood, remember?" Michael pointed out and everyone started slightly in shock - except Maurice who Scorpius had stopped using his translator necklace in favor of eating his breakfast.

"You shouldn't call yourself a mudblood," Scorpius said quietly and felt bad for thinking it of Michael before, hearing his friend say it made it sound so much worse than it did in his mind or from his own mouth.

"Its what Varanian started calling me..." Michael trailed off before looking back to Albus and seemed determined to change the subject or rather get it back on track, "well? What has Vern done to you?"

"I can't think of anything exactly," Albus reluctantly admitted, "usually he just sits quietly and lets his brother and sister do all the work."

"Well there, if you actually gave him a chance and got to know him instead of judging him for his family then you'd see he wasn't that bad."

"You've met him like twice, maybe if you got to know him then you'd see he actually is that bad, did you ever think of that?"

"Its better to give someone a chance and be wrong about them then to not give them a chance at all."

"Don't you have a detention to get to?" Albus grumbled under his breath and Michael said goodbye before leaving, Scorpius hastily doing the same.

They headed onwards to the Charms classroom, Scorpius was somewhat irked at having to skip half of his breakfast. Michael could have at least waited until Molly arrived long enough for them to say hello, he hadn't realized how much he was looking forward to seeing her at breakfast until he hadn't gotten to. Then again, Michael probably had expected Scorpius to stay and finish his breakfast if he wanted but Scorpius wouldn't let his friend walk around alone against potential enemy Aurors if he could help it.

"Michael!"

Vern's voice broke through his thoughts and he saw Albus' cousin coming over to them from a corridor off to the side, his stringy brown hair looked plastered to his head as if he'd been out in the rain and likewise his clothes were damp and he had water dripping down his face and clothes. In contrast his companion looked completely dry, Orous was carrying parchment on top of a book in one hand and a quill in the other, both of which also seemed dry. Orous still looked hopelessly sad though.

"Hey Vern, Orous. How's it going?" Michael greeted the two boys kindly with a smile that wavered, "why are you wet?"

"Oh... Erm... just no... well... erm..." Vern seemed to debate whether to tell him or not and looked worried before deciding to divulge the answer, "James decided to make it rain on me so... I'm all wet."

"You should go a teacher," Scorpius said immediately and Vern only looked more anxious.

"I-I don't want to get my cousin in trouble, I'm sure he was just teasing and he didn't mean it and he won't do it again... There was no witnesses but his friends anyway, Orous wasn't there."

"I'm drawing a map of the school so I won't get lost again. I never want to get lost again," Orous spoke, still so quietly it was little more than a whisper.

"A map of the school?" Scorpius repeated incredulously, "you realize how big this place is? I don't think its possible."

"I can try," Orous mumbled quietly without looking up, Scorpius scowled as he looked at the albino holding the quill in his left hand... there was just something about it, something about _him_.

"Okay then, see you later," Michael was saying and Scorpius had a feeling he'd zoned out of the conversation as Michael waved the boys off and they continued on their way to Charms.

"What happened?" Scorpius asked after the younger boys were out of earshot.

"Agreed to try help him with their homework later if we finish our detention soon enough."

Scorpius nodded in understanding and they carried on to the classroom, Grant was surprisingly already there and Scorpius recalled that he hadn't actually seen him at dinner. The Charms Professor was sitting at his desk, it was a different one than the one that Professor Flitwick had had. Scorpius was glad, it would be a disgrace to Professor Flitwick's good name if someone as awful as Grant had taken over his desk. Grant didn't seem to notice them at first, he seemed immersed in staring sadly at a picture. Only when Michael cleared his throat did Grant look up, his narrowing darkly on them and he put the picture back down with the image facing away from them.

"Bit earlier than I thought," Grant said after a moment after he awkwardly rose to come over to them, his injures seeming to make movement slightly awkward but his face lacked the twinges of pain that Professor Ashain's had when he moved, Scorpius took that to mean that Grant wasn't allergic to pain potions, "your detention isn't lines today, you'll be cleaning trophies - _without_ magic - in the trophy room. Come with me."

They didn't object to this or say a word although Michael looked relieved, despite his insistence to the contrary Scorpius was sure his wrist was paining him after a lot of writing or spellwork. Scorpius knew where the Trophy Room was but he hadn't spent time there, Calderon either didn't think the trophies needed a lot of cleaning or always did it himself. It was a bigger room than he'd thought but Scorpius was in agreement with Michael, he'd rather clean than do more lines, if only to spare his ink.

"There's a bucket of water and clothes, get to work," Grant said and gestured with his head to a bucket with two blue bobbing clothes already there, Scorpius immediately went to obey but Michael hesitated.

"Um... Professor, I was wondering," Michael began and Grant's face looked livid over Michael having the audacity to speak to him when he was supposed to be silently carrying out his detention, "there's um... a friend of mine was being hassled by another student but he doesn't want to get the student in trouble, I was wondering if you could just deal with the bully or something without having to worry my friend with it."

"Why in the world would I do that?"

"Because you're a teacher and its your job to act in the best interests of the students."

"If _Malfoy_ wants help then he should at least not be coward enough to make you ask in his place when he's in the same room no less."

"Its not me!" Scorpius protested irritably, "he's talking about a first year."

"Trying to taint the minds of the young with your poisonous ideals?"

"No!" Scorpius spat and the wave of anger overcame him before he could stop it, "how dare you assume just because my last name's Malfoy that I have 'poisonous ideals' and that I'm trying to 'taint' people with them?! I haven't done anything wrong and I haven't done anything to you! You're more than the blood you carry, you can't let yourself be defined by your family and their beliefs and I don't!"

"Wow," Grant laughed, Scorpius felt so angry at the reaction his wrist started to burn, "you know Calderon said the _exact_ same thing when I asked him to expel you?"

"You-You asked Calderon to _expel_ me?" Scorpius spluttered and his anger was extinguished by shock, both that Grant had done it and that he'd so openly admitted it to Scorpius but he managed to catch himself.

In fact he was amused, Calderon wouldn't do anything like that to him, they were close and Calderon's parents being Death Eaters made him particularly irritated by people judging others for being related to them. He imagined Calderon had either been mad or just laughed his demented laugh at the ludicrously of what Grant had been asking, or both probably, he wished he could've seen Grant's reaction and Calderon's . In fact he wished he could just see Calderon. Scorpius missed him.

"It was worth a shot," Grant stated stiffly and Scorpius tried very hard not to smile, "now get to work."

"But my friend-" Michael started to say but was cut off by Grant.

"I don't care, Sanford, get to work. And don't say a word."

They each took a cloth and got to work cleaning the trophies, silently agreeing to start on opposite sides of the room. Scorpius let his mind wander again, no longer preferring cleaning to lines, it reminded him of missing Calderon. Would it be weird if Scorpius just went to visit him? Would Calderon even want to see him? Would Calderon actually have time to see him? Where was Calderon anyway? Was he using the Headmaster's office or somewhere else? Was he using the Headmaster's quarters even or still in the broom closet that apparently passed for a bedroom? Was it weird if he went to visit Calderon?

"Why don't you sit down?" Michael questioned after awhile and Scorpius was surprised before he realized that his friend was talking to Grant, Grant looked as surprised as Scorpius felt, "standing there all day isn't healthy for your leg, you need to be resting it."

"What, so you can skive off your detention?" Grant sneered glaring at Michael who in turn looked offended that Grant had accused him of that.

"No! I just know something about first aid and your body needs rest to recover, just conjure a chair to sit to watch us even, just to take the pressure off your leg from holding up your body-weight," Michael told him hotly before turning back to what he was doing and added in a much lower tone that he wasn't sure Grant heard or not, "or just ignore me and suffer."

They went back to work without another word but it didn't go unnoticed by Scorpius that after a few minutes, Grant did indeed begrudgingly conjure a chair and sit down on it. Scorpius couldn't help but feel both a smug satisfaction at Michael being right and a twinge of annoyance that Grant was now more comfortable, he sighed and just went back to cleaning the various trophies. Amusing himself by seeing the various names on them, occasionally seeing one he recognized.

He only looked up again when he heard snoring, he looked back and saw Grant was sleeping on his chair. He exchanged an incredulous look with Michael, teachers were supposed to stay awake during detentions, it seemed a very fundamental rule. Shaking his head at Grant, he went back to cleaning the trophies, in particular he was onto Quidditch victors and his eye was caught by a Ravenclaw victory from the early nineties with 'A. Ashain' listed as the Seeker. He grinned, not having any doubt that was his favorite professor and took special care when cleaning that shield before moving onto the next ones. He wasn't the only Ashain listed on a shield, he saw a Slytherin victory from the eighties with 'B. Ashain' listed as a Beater, he could only assume that was Professor Ashain's brother, Brutus, that the professor had accidentally killed in a duel during the Battle of Hogwarts. He took special care on that one too, he thought Professor Ashain would want that.

He was just starting to wonder if his and Molly's names would ever appear on one of the trophies like that, if maybe thirty years from then it would be some other poor student stuck cleaning the trophies who would see his name. Would they dismiss it as insignificant or spit on his name because it was Malfoy? He sighed and picked up the next one, a Gryffindor victory and he was again drawn to one of the names 'P. Varanian' was listed as a Chaser. He hadn't known Varanian had played Quidditch, for some reason that amused him and he gave a small laugh despite everything.

"What's so funny?" Michael asked glancing over at him, giving Grant a wary look quickly but the man was still snoring.

"Varanian played Quidditch, he was a Chaser."

"He was a Prefect too and Head Boy, who knew he was such a good model student?"

"Yeah," Scorpius muttered under his breath as a thought stuck him: records. There were records of Varanian and there would be records of Varanian's wife too, if he could find out Ethel's last name then maybe he could find her parents and find Varanian. It was a weak link maybe but Varanian's comment about his in-laws helping him was all he had to go on, even if they were unfortunately muggles.

"Hey Scorpius, reckon this guy is related to Calderon? He looks quite a bit like him, a grandfather maybe because its from the forties," Michael was saying but Scorpius wasn't interested in that right then.

"Did you notice any mention of an Ethel around Varanian's time?"

"Ethel? Err... yeah, the other Gryffindor Prefect from his year was an Ethel Embry, why?"

"I think that was his wife," Scorpius pointed out excitedly but Grant took that moment to wake up, he stretched and yawned and they went back to working in silence.

They didn't work for as long as Scorpius had originally thought, Grant let them go when they'd finished cleaning the trophies and didn't criticize their work or give them extra detentions. Scorpius wasn't sure if it was because of Calderon's reaction to asking for him to be expelled or because Grant couldn't bothered because his injuries seemed to be taxing him or for some reason but he wasn't about to complain, with any luck it would be the last of their detentions with the man.

Scorpius just hung around with Michael as he met up with Vern and Orous in the Library, Scorpius didn't know whether Orous was listening or not as he silently carried on with his homework but Vern hung off of Michael's - and Scorpius' when he chimed in - every word. Vern may be a bit reluctant to be a wizard but he was no slacker to work, he seemed to genuinely try hard to do well and Scorpius had to admit he didn't seem a bad person like Albus thought. Vern came across as timid and constantly thanked them for taking the time to help him, Orous didn't say a word but still looked thoroughly sad for whatever reason.

They spent about an hour or so with them before it was time for dinner, he noticed the disapproval on Albus' face as he saw them with Vern and Orous before joining them. Corin, Maurice and Molly were sitting with them again, Molly looked extremely tired, Corin extremely angry and Maurice's expression was neutral as he nibbled at his food without bothering with his translator necklace to pay attention to what they were saying. Abby and Rose were in better moods and Albus lightened up a bit when he learned that they hadn't been with his cousin long after the detention ended, too late for them to practice Quidditch with them anyway as they had long since gone inside to carry on with their homework. Scorpius noticed that Corin - like Albus - was staring at the staff table, unlike Albus however Corin was glaring furiously rather than staring dreamily.

Scorpius followed his gaze and realized he was looking at two new editions to the staff table, Professor Ashain was sitting with a small child either side of him. He recognized them both from the pictures in the professor's office and from seeing them once in the St Mungo's, Professor Ashain was sitting with his children. The little girl, who looked like straw had been dumped on her head, was enthusiastically chatting away to her father and gazing around the room in awe every few seconds while the slightly elder boy, who shared his father's extremely dark auburn hair was talking to Professor Hagrid with a look of interest on his face, Professor Hagrid was laughing at whatever Antonius - Scorpius thought that was what his name was anyway - was saying.

"Something bothering you Cor-"

"Yes!" Corin snapped before Michael had finished his question, "look at Ashain over there with his kids! _I_ was the only one who ever got to sit at the staff table despite not being staff, _I_ was the only one who got to visit a father in Hogwarts, why do Ashain's brats get to do it?! Ashain has only been here a year, my father more than fifty and Ashain has been on probation like a zillion times anyway, most teachers who are parents visit their own children, they don't bring them in."

"Professor Ashain isn't supposed to travel magically because of his injuries," Scorpius pointed out defensively, "and really it would be a waste to use the Hogwarts Express because it would take too long, his wife's a muggle so its a lot harder to meet them half-way. Its easier to bring the kids to him until he recovers... he-he was hurt really bad from the attack on the memorial."

"So what?!" Corin barked for which Scorpius was grateful as it took his mind away from that day, there'd been so much blood, "don't you get it? I was supposed to be the only one, I was supposed to be special and now I can't even have that?! My wants get ignored and Ashain's brats just get whatever they want, is that how it works? Just because Marius is friendly with Ashain they get everything? My father has known Marius longer, my father knew him when he was nothing, when he was scared of his own shadow and freaked out over everything, when he was completely and utterly insane, not just mental. He would still be nothing if not for my father's support and what thanks does my father get? To have his son replaced by some new teacher's kids."

"I don't actually get your problem, you're _attending _Hogwarts," Albus said slowly, "what does it matter what Ashain or his kids does? What has it got to do with Calderon's relationship to Ashain and your father anyway? I'm sure if Hagrid had another child who wasn't attending Hogwarts then they'd be allowed to visit like you were, its not a competition where only one person is allowed to have their kids visit."

"I don't care! I don't like it!" Corin practically yelled and Scorpius was again reminded of a small child having a tantrum.

Maurice finally seemed to notice his friend's upset and started gesturing with his hands to Corin in their sign language, Corin angrily started making gestures back but at least Corin went silent. Scorpius' gaze drifted lazily back to Professor Ashain who was still with his children looking happy, he wasn't happy with Scorpius though. He probably thought Scorpius was the worst person in the world, he'd nearly died saving Scorpius and for what? So Scorpius could fail, completely and utterly fail. He must be so ashamed and disappointed, Scorpius had to hastily wipe away the tears pricking his eyes. Scorpius was a weak, pathetic failure.

It continued to bother Scorpius on Sunday, he went out with his friends to practice Quidditch as promise but all he really wanted to do was practice the Patronus Charm so he could prove he wasn't a failure. It was interesting though to see his friends play, they cycled between pretending to be Keeper and practicing Chaser. Unfortunately Scorpius they weren't as talented as he'd hoped, Rose had managed to overcome her fear of falling but only by going extremely slowly, so slowly Scorpius could have literally flown two laps of the pitch before she even reached the height of the rings, she took a long time to size up the shot too - whether to pass or to score - and was abysmal at catching. Scorpius considered her the least likely to make the team.

Albus was second worst, he was much faster but he truly lacked talent on a broom, everything he did on a broom seemed awkward, his turns were wide and slow, his control was jerky and like Rose he took time awhile - although not as long as her - to size up shots which while made it more accurate... in a real game they'd lose the Bludger in seconds. With practice maybe he could improve but he would only make the team if Molly were in dire need of bodies, Albus truly tried his best but he just wasn't skillful. Abby was much better, her shots were faster and more on target and her broom control was average but was much better than Albus and Rose by comparison - as she explained, she helped Nick practice at home by trying to score against him and in trying to outmaneuver him had developed some talent - however she was terrible at passing. She threw the ball at them too forcefully, more like she was trying to hit something rather than _pass_ it along but the worst was catching, she tried to dodge rather than catch for fear of being hurt or knocked off her broom unless it was a very easy and slow catch. Scorpius thought with practice and getting over her dislike of having things thrown at her that she could possibly make the team, at least as a reserve anyway but she still wasn't great.

Michael surprised him though, Michael had skill. He alone was on a school broom rather than one that they owned - Scorpius had his _Dart_, Rose had gotten a broom as a gift from her father, Abby had her brother's old broom and Albus had the _Cloudcutter_ that Scorpius had gotten him last Christmas - but was easily the best out of his friends. Michael was coordinated with his shots and his passes - catching passes anyway, his throwing passes could use some work - and it was a testament to his talent that he could force a crummy old school broom to keep up with the likes of their much sleeker, skillful models. Michael was most adept at flying in general, he was agile with his turning and being able to veer into different directions so fast was impressive. Michael only had one major flaw: he couldn't stop. He could change direction flawlessly - he would be good at dodging Bludgers but he couldn't stop, he nearly crashed - or did crash - into the hoops and stands so many times and almost fell of his broom from the effort of trying to stop. It was a big flaw, however Scorpius thought his skill made up for it and practices would hopefully teach him to stop or at the very least use it to their advantage.

Of them all, Scorpius thought Michael was the only one who had a serious chance of making the team. This actually made him feel worse though, Albus was the one who desperately wanted to the team while for the others it was more for fun and Albus' enthusiasm rubbing off on them, not a serious attempt and they wouldn't mind if they were off the team. Albus however would probably be crushed, even more so if his friend got the position and not him, especially a friend without a broom. Scorpius was dreading the tryouts the following week, he _wanted_ his friends to do well but there was no way any of them - bar Michael - would have improved enough in a week. Unless of course no one showed up and they won spots by default, Scorpius was both hoping and dreading that. The Aurors guarding the outside called them down before it got dark and they returned inside the castle, going back to doing homework.

Scorpius lay awake for a long time that night alternating between worrying and trying the Patronus Charm. He fell asleep still a failure and no less worried about the tryouts, for some reason Varanian as a Chaser popped into his mind before he finally fell asleep with a fragment of amusement on his mind.

* * *

**_Thanks to:_**_ Winged-panther1, Harry-Potter-Magic, Aya Diefair, Lucifersdaughter and SDF for reviewing!_

_**I wonder of Molly giving Scorp a kiss help get his happiness up?**_  
_Yeah, that would get his happiness up if it were to happen_

_**So they will?**_  
_Not in this book but I will say they will develop feelings for one another, whether they'll ever act on them and end up together or not I can't say I'm sorry_

_**Does Scorpius want to succeed at everything because of what happened to him?**_  
_Sort of yeah, he feels like he has to succeed to prove that he's not effected by what happened to him and that he's just as capable as anyone 'normal' like his family didn't expect much from him either after it and he wanted to prove them wrong by doing well. He's also not used to failing, he's gotten used to being naturally good at practical spellwork and as a result holds himself to a higher standard, to suddenly do so terribly is really bothering him, especially as its in his favorite class with Professor Ashain regardless of how difficult the spell is_


	15. II: Failing

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, Lucifersdaughter and Guest for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Because they grade NEWTs/OWLs with O (outstanding), E (exceeds expectations), A (acceptable), P (poor), D (dreadful) and T (troll) (I think those are right anyway) but I don't think they'd grade non OWL/NEWT years with our usual grade scale because it would seem confusing and I don't think they use OWL/NEWT grading outside of those years or exams so I'm just saying their work is marked in nice easy percentages (0-100, 0 is bad and 100 is full marks) so that's how I've done it unless anyone knows different_

**_So James gonna be jealous Michael has great Quidditch skills?_**  
_No, if anything James will ignore Michael's skills and only focus on his flaws. James is jealous of Scorpius' Quidditch skills though (even if he won't admit that Scorpius has them) because Seeker is the position he wants_

**_Are Varanian's in-laws gonna play a part?_**  
_Yep_

**_Is Molly gonna be alright emotionally?_**  
_Maybe, she's having a hard time of things but she's a strong girl_

**_Is there a chance for Molly and Scorpius?_**  
_Yes_

**_Does Micheal have a crush?_**  
_Yes he does, that's why he was suspiciously blushy_

* * *

The week got off to a bad start with Charms being first thing, Grant was as cheery as ever with the rest of the class even going as far to ask them if they'd had a good weekend and a few people even gave answers. Scorpius was tempted to say about the detention ruining his weekend but he didn't, his schedule was currently free of any more detentions with Grant and he intended to keep it that way. Plus it hadn't been a complete waste as he knew Varanian's wife's name, although he still wasn't sure how to find them, how did you find muggles?

He was dragged from his thoughts by Grant asking them for their homework assignment, the weekend question had probably been a tactical way to not seem like a jerk for asking for homework first. Scorpius saw right through him though, the manipulative bastard. His entire demeanor changed when he reached Scorpius and Michael though, their chosen seats making the last to be picked. He peered over Scorpius' work before taking it and started to do the same for Michael before shaking his head.

"I can't accept this," Grant announced.

"What do you mean you can't accept it?" Michael wondered worriedly as Grant put down the other assignments down on his desk.

"Your handwriting, your spelling, its just illegible and gibberish and its not good enough for my class," Grant explained and took Michael's quill, writing a huge zero at the top of the pages.

"B-But that's not fair, I-I tr- I tried," Michael stammered and he both looked and sounded like he was fighting off tears, he'd never gotten a zero before but Grant's expression remained uncaring and cold, "y-you didn't even read it."

"I_ can't_ read it, its that bad."

"Give him a break," Scorpius snapped angrily and Grant turned his unfeeling eyes on Scorpius, "you could at least take it and read it."

"Alright," Grant agreed with a smirk and shoved Michael's assignment at Scorpius, "read me the first sentence, if you can understand it then age is just catching up to my eyes and its not that bad."

Michael looked at him hopefully while Grant looked triumphant, not expecting Scorpius to be able to understand it either. Scorpius wanted so badly to able to understand it and shove it back in Grant's face, as it turned out though the first sentence was particularly bad. Scorpius bit his lip, he needed time to puzzle it out but Michael seemed to realize that he couldn't get it because the hope in his hazel eyes was extinguished.

"Well read it out then! Surely your keen Seeker eyes can puzzle it out!" Grant said so loudly that people were now waiting for Scorpius to read it.

"The nag I call drop parties me give of op jets war rise put the one cons ant is that ew do give then-"

"I think that's enough," Grant interrupted still smirking triumphantly and most of the class was laughing, Michael looked like he wanted the desk to eat him alive.

"The magical properties we give to objects varies but the one constant is that we do give them..." Michael spoke up to correct the part of the sentence that Scorpius had read out.

"Sorry," Scorpius apologized guiltily, "I would have got it with more time. That makes much more sense, its a good start."

"Well unfortunately I don't have time to decipher when I should be reading, I'm a teacher not a code breaker. You need to improve, Sanford, don't be so lazy and apply yourself or you'll continue to do badly because if I can't read it then its a zero regardless of the contents," Grant informed Michael stiffly, Michael swallowed and wiped his eyes hastily.

Grant turned back to the class and went back to talking about the Enlargement Charm, saying that he hoped to move onto the next spell the following week as he was pleased with their progress. Michael had buried his head in his hands rather than taking notes like he usually did, it was eerily quiet without the scratching of his quill. Grant said the rest of the lesson would be practical though, they'd talk about its most common applications and things later on in the week. Scorpius practiced it but didn't really see the point, Grant continued to find flaws in his work that he didn't seem to find in anyone else's regardless of what he did. Michael remained with his head in his hands and didn't try at all. Scorpius was afraid trying to comfort him would get them detentions again, he was pretty sure if he said Grant was being unfair and to not let it get to him that the professor would hear.

"Passable but not perfect, that's what happens when you say the spell too quickly," Grant complained to him once more before turning to Michael, "slacking off again, Sanford? Let's see you try it."

Michael finally looked up and took out his wand, his eyes looked watery but he seemed to be holding back the tears. He flicked his wand and muttered the incantation darkly, the targeted apple immediately responded and bulged in size massively before exploding and splattering himself, Scorpius, Grant and the other nearby people and furniture in apple innards.

"Well that was an atrocious attempt, are you even trying at all? Do you think this a joke? If you don't improve then you'll have to _repeat_ your second year, do you want that? Or to be put back in the first?" Grant snapped at him and when Michael blinked the tears leaked from his eyes, "your schoolwork is serious, if you can't be bothered to write coherently or so much as practice the spells then you will continue to fail, fair on your classwork, fail on your homework, fail on your exams, there's only so many times you can fail before you'll be kicked out of this school. Is that what you want?!"

"N-N-No," Michael stammered out tearfully, "I-I n-need t-to u-use th-the ba-bathroom, I c-can't..."

Grant made a motion with his hand that Michael seemed to take as confirmation as he fled the classroom without another word, Grant took out his wand to clean up the apple and carried on like nothing had happened. Scorpius glared at him furiously, his wrist was burning again but nothing caught fire. Scorpius was actually disappointed, Grant deserved to have some part of his classroom burned for being such a jerk to Michael. Michael didn't return to Charms though, Scorpius and the others opted to take his things with them in case Grant decided to throw them out or punish him or something. They were forced to head to Transfiguration without him, they didn't see him the corridors or waiting outside the classroom either.

"You were right," Albus said while they waited on Florian, "Grant's an asshole."

"Should we go looking for Michael or something?" Rose wondered worriedly, "I don't see him."

"Nah, he'll show up. He wouldn't miss a class."

As they took their seats in class though, Michael still didn't show up. It wasn't a practical lesson but nonetheless Florian was incredibly skilled at making a written lesson interactive, it was more of a discussion with segments of reading and writing than simply copying from a book. Scorpius had decided to begrudgingly admit that Florian wasn't a _bad_ teacher but he still wasn't one of the teachers that Scorpius knew and liked, although he thought that may be in part because Transfiguration was one of his favorite subjects. Michael still didn't appear during the whole lesson though and they were again forced to leave without him, this time to go to lunch where again he wasn't there.

"Where's Michael?" Maurice asked them curiously as they sat down with them out of force of habit, as usual the deaf boy was leaning on one hand and holding his translator necklace in the other, Corin looked livid for some reason.

"We don't know," Albus admitted anxiously, "there was a... thing in Charms and we haven't seen him since."

"Grant still treating him and you like garbage then?" Maurice questioned of Scorpius who nodded, not really wanting to go into detail.

"Could this day possibly get any worse?!" Corin snapped angrily and stabbed his plate so hard it shattered, Maurice promptly took out his wand and repaired the plate effortlessly.

"What's up with you?" Abby wondered disinterestedly and Scorpius noticed that all of them were picking at their food.

"We've had Defense Against the Dark Arts all morning, trying to do the Patronus Charm and failing spectacularly," Maurice answered in place of his friend, Corin's eyes glittered darkly and he had to hold himself back from cracking another plate, "Corin is rather upset about it."

"Aren't you?"

"We did no worse than everyone else, Orous couldn't do it so I'm happy. Besides, I can't see us being tested on it - except maybe the theoretical knowledge - and I already knew that from the school I went to before Beauxbatons so Father won't be displeased. How did you do on it or have you not had your Patronus lesson yet? Did your brother get attacked by maggots for being evil?"

"My brother's not evil," Albus protested defensively, "he's just... kind of a jerk sometimes. But not evil."

"Sure," Maurice commented with another cold smile, "that was sarcasm by the way. In case you couldn't tell. There's supposed to be a tone of voice for it, I'm not sure if I get it."

"I'm surprised you didn't get attacked by maggots," Rose muttered under her breath but Maurice's necklace seemed to have picked it up because he lost his smile immediately.

"I couldn't get it either," Scorpius admitted glumly, "I failed miserably. I'm a failure. Professor Ashain probably hates me now."

"You did hear the part where he said that it was complex and advanced magic and to not be surprised or disheartened if you didn't get it?" Abby asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Of course I did but I still failed!"

"Hey!" Molly greeted them as she sat down beside Scorpius, grinning and Scorpius couldn't help but stupidly return her smile and just for a moment all his worries flew out of his brain, "so sorry I'm late, I just had Herbology with Eben and stayed behind to work out the tryout schedule, was so excited to get it arranged that I went to put up the notice right away. Tryouts are on for first thing Sunday morning."

"Not Saturday?" Albus wondered.

"No, Ravenclaw already beat me to Saturday morning and I don't want an afternoon so Sunday. Probably for the best, give more people a chance to get over their idiotic prejudices and actually show up for practice."

"You're really worried about people not trying out because of Lucy?"

"Al, I can't even get people to sit next to me in class and I have to assemble a whole team."

"Mum is campaigning to get Squibs fairer rights," Rose pointed out hopefully.

"That's great but it takes time, people aren't just going to get over it overnight and that doesn't help me with getting a Quidditch team now. Hey, that reminds me, where's Michael? Father put Lucy into muggle school and I wanted to ask Michael about it because he's the only muggle-born I really know whose still talking to me."

"Grant upset him and now he's gone," Maurice answered bluntly.

"We should look for him," Albus commented but Molly shook her head.

"I wouldn't, the Aurors didn't like that I was going to Gryffindor Tower to put up a notice when I should be in the Great Hall, I think they'd like it even less if you were just wondering around aimlessly searching," Molly told them looking thoughtful, "unless you specifically know where he is anyway, maybe the Aurors will get him to come back to the Great Hall or you should tell them he's miss-"

"No!" Scorpius burst out frantically and was suddenly afraid for Michael's life, "we can't tell the Aurors, we shouldn't trust them."

"Aurors are good," Rose pointed out as if speaking to a three year old, "remember?"

"Still..." Scorpius trailed off, he couldn't give his reasons for not trusting them without telling them about seeing Varanian and he couldn't do that for fear of getting Varanian caught and killed.

"If he's still missing by next class then you have to tell someone," Molly said frowning, "he could be in danger."

"Ah!" Albus gasped as if suddenly realizing something, "next class is a double with Professor Vipera! How do I look? How does my breath smell?"

"Erm... well kind of like bacon."

"My looks or breath?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes at Albus' hopeless infatuation and went back to picking at his food, his thoughts shifted to his own crush, were things just as hopeless for him with Molly? He didn't want it to be hopeless for him with Molly. He shoved it out of his mind forcefully, he couldn't think about it then, it was weird with her sitting right next to him anyway, she always sat next to him at meals.

He was anxious by the time they headed off to Potions, every Auror they passed only made him feel worse and when they finally reached the Potions Classroom, Michael wasn't there. They didn't have to wait long for Vipera to call them into the classroom, Michael still wasn't there. Albus tore his eyes away from his crush long enough to exchange a worried look with Scorpius as they took their usual seats at the front, Abby and Rose took the table beside them again.

"So as promised, we reach our double lesson and we will start our second year curriculum and I shall give you back your marks for last week's work which I will do after we start the practical," Vipera started the class, "today we shall be learning about-"

"Sorry I'm late," Michael said and Scorpius jolted with relieved surprise as Michael carefully closed the door behind him and went to sit down in between Albus and Scorpius as usual, Vipera inclined her head in acknowledgement before continuing her speech without further comment.

Scorpius wordlessly handed Michael his things and Michael silently mouthed thanks as he started taking down notes on what she was saying like he usually did, he looked like he'd been crying. Scorpius did his best to pay attention, since he was failing Professor Ashain and Charms from Grant's bias, he really couldn't afford to fail Potions too. He was glad for the practical to take his mind off things, Vipera tortuously had decided to go from the back of the class first to give them their results before slowing moving forwards to them.

"Mr Malfoy, an impressive ninety-four and ninety-six percent," Vipera informed him and Scorpius felt a burst of relief followed by anxiousness, was that good enough? He'd never gotten a hundred percent before on a potion, did that make him a failure? Did he need to try harder, "Mr Potter, a ninety-two and ninety-eight percent. Your second potion was the best in the class but the first was a bit off, did you cut your finger or something?"

"Err... N-No, why would you think that?" Albus stammered nervously gazing into her green eyes, she cocked her head to one side and an raised an eyebrow as if she didn't believe his lie.

"It would explain the slight dilution is all, a few accidental drops in a basic potion may not matter too much but in more advanced potions such as OWL level or NEWT level if you choose to pursue it can make a drastic difference or even make the potion useless, even a few accidental drops can change the function of a potion entirely as blood can be used as an ingredient. Obviously you won't be learning the likes of that but the ingredients can still react to it, be wary in the future. Although since you _didn't_ do that, you likely didn't boil your Hemlock root thoroughly," Vipera explained and Albus' cheeks tinged pink as he nodded but she was already turning her attention to Michael, gently taking his wrist as he went to add snake fangs to his potion, "its six not nine, you don't want to make the potion _too_ potent."

"Sorry," Michael mumbled miserably while Albus' eyes bulged as Michael freed his hand and discarded three of the fangs before adding the correct six.

Vipera gave him his marks, not as high as theirs but still good before the lesson resumed. It was an oddly silent lesson despite the fact that Vipera allowed them to speak, Albus was again determinedly focused and refusing conversation and Michael mostly asked about what he'd missed in Transfiguration, he didn't mention Grant or where he'd been at all. Scorpius didn't really want to say anything about it with Vipera walking around to check and help out with potions, it was only after they left and headed off to Herbology that they could speak freely.

"Where were you?!" Rose asked in exasperation, "you missed a whole class!"

"What she means is that we were worried about you," Abby offered in translation.

"Yeah its not safe," Scorpius chimed in, both wanting to hug him in relief that he was alright and yell at him for risking his life with the Aurors.

"Forget all that!" Albus burst out as Michael opened his mouth to reply, "what was it like?!"

"What was it like?" Michael repeated in confusion.

"Professor Vipera touched your hand! What was it like? Tell me everything!"

"Erm... it wasn't painful?"

"Was her skin soft like the wings of butterflies or the smoothest silk that spiders have to offer or so light like fluffy clouds?" Albus asked desperately and Scorpius choked on his laughter as did Michael, Rose and Abby were less reserved and just outright laughed, "stop laughing!"

"Sorry," Michael apologized, "and I don't know, her skin was like skin."

"Very descriptive," Albus muttered dryly as they went outside to the greenhouses, everyone calming down.

"So where were you anyway?" Rose wondered.

"In this weird room on the seventh floor," Michael answered and looked suddenly fascinated, "I swear it looked just like Mum's dream home. Before we moved in with Bob, she had a picture that she cut out of a magazine of this fantastic apartment that would suit us perfectly and said one day we'd get there and not be struggling all the time and life would be good for once, it looked just like that, right down to the circular pattern on the couch cushions and the small stain they'd tried to hide with the table leg."

"There's no room like that on the seventh floor," Scorpius said with a scowl.

"Yes there is, I was just there. Near the tapestry of that guy, I was lost and wandering around the corridor trying to figure out where I was and then I noticed the door. I don't know how I missed it but it was there, I heard a bunch of Aurors talking and coming closer so ducked inside to avoid them and there it was."

"I would know if there was a room there like that, I was on that floor plenty of times with Calderon and there was no room like that."

"I'll show you after Herbology, it was there."

Time seemed to drag by in Herbology, all of them were just eager to see this room that looked just like Michael's mother's dream home. Scorpius doubted his existence, he was sure he would have noticed a room like that, he ticked off all the rooms on the seventh floor and couldn't think of what Michael was talking about. They walked as fast as they could to the seventh floor when the lesson was over, Michael stopped in front of a random stretch of blank wall and scowled.

"It-It was right here," Michael said walking up to the wall and rapping his knuckles against it as if to check that it was stone, scowling deeply, "I swear it was here."

"I told you I would know if there was a room," Scorpius pointed out as Michael continued to pat the wall and frown at it.

"It was here, it _was_. I swear it was here."

"You seemed really upset, I'm sure you weren't paying that much attention to where you were," Albus offered gently.

"No! It was here, it was, it really was."

"Well its not here now," Rose announced with a note of finality while Michael continued to stare at the wall, "Al's right, you probably got confuse between it and the Common Room."

"I wasn't confused! I made sure I knew where it was so I could come back, I know the difference between it and the Common Room. It really was there earlier."

"Rooms don't just come and go."

"I-I guess not," Michael nodded solemnly in agreement but continued to stare at the wall in confusion, "I was so sure it was there."

"Well its not so let's go get cracking on our homework, I believe we have a Potions essay to do!" Albus said with unusual enthusiasm that had to be because of Vipera as he clapped his hands together cheerfully, Scorpius rolled his eyes but they went to go do their homework anyway, Michael looking back wistfully at the wall as they went.

It was a bad start to a bad week as it turned out, Herbology was almost as dull as History of Magic without Professor Longbottom, he couldn't focus in Astronomy for being reminded of his grandfather's death and Charms was just horrible. Grant gave him back his homework, he'd given Scorpius less than ten, citing it was too long so he'd simply disregarded the latter sections and claimed what he did have was too detailed and too 'waffley.' He didn't bring Michael to tears again or even comment on what had happened the previous lesson but he continued to criticize every little thing about their work, it made Scorpius furious and by the end of the double lesson he actually wanted his burning wrist to shoot out fire, he wanted to lash out at Grant so badly, injured or not. Potions and Transfiguration were alright, Defense Against the Dark Arts would have been except for the Patronus lesson on Friday where yet again he failed abysmally to produce anything at all.

James was hassling him again too, citing he intended to tryout for Seeker and that year Scorpius wasn't going to cheat his way into the position again. Despite his fears about his friends, he was looking forward to proving James wrong, again.


	16. II: Trying

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

**_They found the Room of Requirement, shouldn't the Potter-Weasley kids know of this?_**  
_They know that there was a room used for the DA and stuff called the 'Room of Requirement' but they don't know really what the name means or the specifics on it such as that it does what the person wants like what Michael was thinking of, they don't know it was on that floor either. Its one of those things they've kind of heard but not thought about in a lot of detail and its not something Ron would embellish in his stories, he'd focus on more on the things that were happening rather than how the room works_

**_Is Albus gonna be desperate enough to use Quidditch to impress Vipera?_**  
_Yep_

**_Will Michael get help? _**  
_Do you mean help with Grant or his Dyslexia in general?_

**_The Room of Requirement you bringing that into the story more?_**  
_Basically yeah_

* * *

Scorpius woke up soaked in sweat once more, it was just a daily occurrence by then even though he couldn't remember the dreams. All it did was add to his increasingly bad mood, he was frustrated with his failures and it seemed stupid waking up on the weekend and not going to have a detention with Calderon anyway. He trudged along with Michael and Albus to breakfast, Albus no longer sleeping in lest he miss the opportunity to gaze dreamily at Vipera at breakfast, the girls weren't there yet.

"She looks angelic in the morning, don't you think?" Albus commented, predictably staring at the Potions professor.

"You know we don't think that," Michael pointed out disinterestedly as he added food to his plate, Albus looked back at him and smirked.

"So who is she?"

"What?" Michael wondered looking confused while Scorpius stabbed at his sausage frustratedly, "I don't anymore about her than you do."

"No! Whose your crush?"

"I told you before, I don't have one."

"Oh come on, I noticed you blushing like crazy when you denied it."

"I don't have a crush," Michael said firmly before adding in a lower tone, "and even if I did I wouldn't tell you so it would be pointless to keep asking when you could be watching Vipera bore Calderon."

Albus seemed content with that logic for then as he went back to watching Vipera, Scorpius went back to picking at his food irritably while Michael attempted to make conversation with little success. Corin and Maurice were actually the next to join them, Scorpius wasn't sure whether they counted as friends or why the pair had randomly taken to sitting with them. They didn't seem much into talking either, Maurice kept his hand away from his translator necklace while Corin was reading as he ate. It wasn't any of the girls who arrived next though, it was Vern who came over to them.

"Hi!" Vern greeted them happily, Albus shot him a dark look but said nothing, Maurice put his hand on his translator necklace while Scorpius, Corin and Michael said hello back, "I wanted to thank you, I got ninety-nine percent on the Charms homework you helped me with."

"Putain. I only got ninety-one," Corin muttered irritably.

"I got a hundred. Without help," Maurice pointed out as he smiled another cold smile, "what did Orous get?"

"Erm... like seventy," Vern answered hesitantly and Maurice looked even more triumphant.

"Sucker."

"Its not really anything to be proud of, Orous isn't very interested in his grades or anything. He didn't even want to come to Hogwarts, his dad made him though."

"Why?" Albus asked of his cousin and Vern looked surprised at being addressed.

"Erm... I'm not really sure its my place to say."

"Typical, won't even tell your own cousin. Just when I was thinking that maybe you weren't that bad."

"Really? You were?" Vern wondered looking oddly hopeful, Michael shot Albus a dark look that went ignored as Albus nodded, "well his parents were magical but his biological dad abandoned him when he was baby, his mum married a normal non-magical person when he very little instead. His mum left over the summer and his non-magical dad wanted him to go to Hogwarts because he can't teach him to use magic obviously and he thought it was important to be learned to stop accidental magic from happening."

"I meant why didn't he want to go to Hogwarts, every magical kid who isn't you wants to go to Hogwarts."

"Oh right. I don't know that, he didn't say and I realize it was important."

"He's a weird kid. Not just in looks."

"I know, he's quiet and sad and he gets picked on a lot which just makes it worse. Do you think you could tell James to lay off him?"

"Why doesn't he just fight back?" Maurice questioned, "he's got skill with a wand, he should use it. I know some majorly cool spells I learned at the school before Beauxbatons that would be good for fighting back, I could teach you. It'd be amusing to see James have his ass handed to him by a first year, even more so than watching his robes on fire."

"Fighting just gets you in trouble!" Vern shrieked in panic, "I don't want to get in trouble with a teacher."

"Only if you're dumb enough to get caught."

"Did you set James' robes on fire?" Albus asked out of nowhere and Maurice looked taken aback.

"Of course not!"

"Really?" Corin wondered disbelievingly.

"Really!" Maurice snapped stiffly, "if I was going to attack James then I would have burned a lot than his robes, believe me. I thought Scorpius did it."

"I didn't do it! I thought you'd done it," Scorpius protested and scowled, "wait so if you didn't do it and I didn't then who did?"

"I don't know but it was definitely wandless magic, that's why I thought it was you because I didn't think anyone else in the vicinity was capable of it was Ashain and I know he didn't do it."

"How do you know it was wandless magic?" Albus questioned curiously as Scorpius noticed Orous coming over to them from the entrance to the Great Hall.

"Because fire from a wand is concentrated where the wand was aimed but the fire sprang up from multiple places so either it was wandless magic or there was more than one person who did it but that's even less likely."

"Um... were you going to come to the library or what?" Orous whispered barely audibly to Vern.

"Hey Orous, did you see who set James Potter's robes on fire? You were there," Corin asked and Orous answered as quietly as ever.

"No. I have no idea who did it."

"So the mystery remains," Albus sighed.

It was a dull in all, they ended up spending it cooped up in the library studying and working on homework. Normally Scorpius wouldn't have minded but he was feeling restless, he wanted to be doing something. He wanted to be using magic, he wanted something to burn, his wrist was aching. He didn't want to be sitting in a stuffy room listening to Albus go on about his crush or Abby natter on about her dad's health or Rose drone on about the homework or Michael constantly asking him if his work was legible.

The Shadows were out there and in at least one of them was probably in the school right then, even if he had no way of telling who. He still hadn't heard from Varanian much to his frustration, he wasn't sure what he was hoping for but he craved more information, more than that he wanted to _do_ something. Varanian was out there hunting the man who'd taken his grandfather's soul and what was he doing? Pointless Charms homework for a teacher that would just give him a bad grade anyway. It was stupid, the whole thing was stupid.

"Michael, if you wanted to find a muggle then how would you do it?" Scorpius asked after awhile.

"Ask Jack," Michael answered without hesitation or looking up.

"Your dad? He can just find people?"

"One time he tracked down this guy who owed him money all the way to Manchester, I know it was true because he went to jail for attacking the guy. Another time my mum was dating this really bad guy and when she broke up with him, he stole her grandmother's necklace and took off. It really means a lot to her and he tracked the guy down and brought her back the necklace."

"Could he find someone for me?" Scorpius wondered and Michael finally looked up, all his friends were looking at him oddly.

"I don't know. You could ask though I suppose, just owl him. Might want to do it fast before he lands himself back in jail," Michael told him with a hint of bitterness and an unreadable expression, "why do you want to find someone?"

"Its just nothing," Scorpius lied as he grabbed a spare piece of parchment and immediately started penning his letter to Jack.

It improved his mood greatly and he rushed off to send it as soon as he'd rechecked it several times to make sure it sounded alright, making sure to include instructions on how to reply in case Jack did something weird to Free instead of simply handing the bird the letter, even muggles could use owls if the other recipient was a witch or wizard. There was nothing on the door to the Owlry like there had been last year, you just retrieved your bird and had them send the letter like it was supposed to have been. Before he could open the door however, someone opened it from the other side and he came face to face with Molly.

"Hi," Scorpius offered as a smile seeped onto his face.

"Hi," Molly greeted him cheerfully and returned his smile, his palms started to sweat again, "here to send a letter or to visit Free?"

"Letter. You?"

"Just visiting, hence the ear," Molly explained and gestured to her right ear that bore a red mark from being bitten, "Hopper was being Hopper."

"I figured."

"Actually I did want to ask you something, would you mind coming with me early tomorrow to help set everything up for the tryouts?"

"Sure," Scorpius agreed without hesitation, "see you then."

"Great," Molly grinned, "catch you later."

Scorpius was in an even better mood after that, suddenly he couldn't wait for the tryouts. He sent Free off with the letter and practically skipped back to the library, not that his concentration improved, if anything it worsened. Molly had asked him to help, not Freddie, not Louis, not James but him. The rational part of his brain told him it was nothing to be excited about, it didn't mean anything but the bubble of hope was drowning out the rationality. Fantasies of walking onto the pitch hand-in-hand with her clogged his mind, they'd make sure everything was ready and then fly for a bit because they both loved it, Molly always looked so beautiful with her fiery locks blowing in the breeze. They'd stop in front of the hoops, hover there real close as they surveyed the pitch, she'd be laughing at someone cool that he'd said then she'd stop. They'd just gaze into each other's eyes for a moment, everything would be perfect and they'd both lean forwards, close their eyes to the blissful smell of cherries as they pressed their lips together for their very first kiss...

"Err... Scorpius?" Albus voice prompted and he was jolted from his fantasy.

"What?" Scorpius demanded irritably.

"For the seventh time: dinner, are you coming?"

"Oh right, yeah."

It was the first morning in a while where he didn't wake up with his clothes sticking to him, it was so early that it was barely light out but he didn't mind, he was too excited to go back to sleep anyway. Surprisingly Michael was awake, practicing spells and Scorpius was afraid to ask how early his friend had been awake since as they headed down to an early breakfast, leaving the rest of their dormitory - including Albus to sleep. Usually Michael was the one who initiated conversation but Scorpius found his mouth seemed stuck on go, he was just talking and talking and he couldn't stop talking, he wasn't even very aware of what he was saying. Michael was nervous about the tryouts, afraid of looking like an idiot because he was so bad, Scorpius gathered that much but he found it focus on a coherent answer, he also noticed Orous leaving as they arrived. They returned to the Common Room after they ate, no one was really around so they sat down or at least Michael did, Scorpius' legs didn't want to be still and he paced around.

It felt like forever before Molly came down, she insisted on being too nervous to eat unless he hadn't already so they just set off. All talk revolved around the tryout as they got the balls and bats ready, along with making sure there were a few school brooms for people who didn't have them or in case they were needed. Scorpius managed to sound normal although his heart was beating so loudly that he was surprised that she didn't hear it, especially when she suggested they flew around for a bit just to get a feel for the air. It was a crisp, cold day but he really didn't care. It felt good to be in the air again, his worries melted away and it was just him and Molly and then she stopped in front of the rings, he hovered beside her and his heart beat a little faster and he was glad he'd decided to wear the Thestral gloves that she'd gotten him for his birthday or his palms would be so sweaty that his grip would be bad.

His fantasy returned to his mind, that wasn't how it happened though, was it? How did relationships work? How did they start? Did you just kiss like that? Did you discuss it logically and decide to date? Should he just blurt out that he liked her and hope for the best? How did it work?! Why didn't he know more? He needed to ask someone for advice, why had he only thought of that now?! But no, he was overreacting, it was _just_ a fantasy and Molly was completely focused on the tryouts. Like he should be, not on stupid fantasies. _I don't want them to just be fantasies,_ his mind pointed out pathetically.

"It feels good to be in the air again," Molly began and Scorpius nodded in agreement, he did enjoy flying, "thanks, you know for coming and helping set up. If I'd asked Freddie he would have just made jokes, if I'd asked James he would just have badgered me about Seeker and Louis isn't even sure he can make the tryouts in the first place but you, you're a good listener. Honestly I'm really nervous about the whole tryout, even though I'm guaranteed a place on the team, its my first task as Captain and its kinda scary. My father's been putting more pressure on me than ever, with Mother being gone... I guess he feels like its solely up to him to motivate me to do well and with Lucy being a squib... I'm the only magical child he has that can do well, magically anyway and he actually has no idea how to react or what to expect from Lucy now.

"For the first time ever he actually thoroughly supports my love of Quidditch, partly because Lucy can never play and partly because I'm the Captain, especially at a young age and he's really on me to do well. I don't want to let him down. Or Mother... I still miss her a lot even though we weren't that close, I wish that we'd been closer and that she... that she had at least died happy and being proud of me and not thinking her daughter was a failure who was going to fail everything. Even Rivers is putting pressure on me as the only 'normal' relation - Lucy being a squib and Maurice being deaf - and both expects and wants me to do well, despite the fact he doesn't even remember the name of the 'silly broomstick game'. With everyone hating me too, even my so-called friends I really want to prove that I can do something good, you know?"

"You will do good," Scorpius promise seriously and smiled in a way he hoped looked encouraging, "you really think through thoroughly at Qudditch, even when you weren't the Captain you were thinking about the other team's strategies and things and... honestly it kinda went over my head because I hadn't thought about Quidditch in a long time but it shows that if anyone is good enough to be Captain its you. Freddie's older than you but they chose _you_ to be the Captain because they knew you'd do a better job, you're the best person they could've chosen. If we don't win this year then its because the cup just couldn't be won, the greatest professional Qudditch Captain in the world couldn't have saved it. If anyone can do it you can, besides win or lose at least we can fly. It'll be okay, you'll see."

"Thanks, Scor," Molly offered and returned his smile briefly, "can... can I ask you something a bit personal? You don't have to answer if you don't want to. I don't want to upset you but... I just... just wanted to hear it from you."

"Um... okay," Scorpius agreed worriedly and Molly bit her lip nervously.

"Over the summer... there were articles in the paper about... you being... being taken by muggles and..." Molly asked and trailed off, Scorpius squeezed shut his eyes, you didn't have to take Divination to know what was coming next, "was... Was it true?"

"Yes," Scorpius answered so quickly and quietly that he surprised himself, he flicked his eyes back open and glanced at her to see her reaction, expecting to see her looking disgusted or angry but she just looked sad, "mostly anyway, some of the details were wrong and all that stuff about how that guy heroically rescued me was a lie. I never even met that guy."

"I'm sorry."

"Its okay. I get that the paper's unreliable."

"No, I meant I'm sorry that it happened to you. If there's anything I can do to help or something, just say the word, okay? You can get through it."

"Thanks," Scorpius muttered in barely more than a whisper as he stared at the ground for a moment, "do... do my friends know?"

"Albus and Rose do, I'm near certain Abby does too. I don't think Michael does though, him being from a muggle family and all... You should try telling him."

Scorpius opened his mouth to reply but quickly closed it when he noticed people starting to arrive, they flew down to meet them. It turned out to be a much smaller crowd than it had been last year, less than half, less than a quarter even and there were even less people in the stands. Although Scorpius didn't think it was _just_ because of Molly being the sister of a squib, they were missing a whole year of students plus Chasers were really the only spots open and not everyone wanted to be a Chaser.

"When are the Seeker tryouts?" James asked immediately and Molly rolled her eyes.

"I wasn't planning on doing any," Molly pointed out as if speaking to someone a lot more than a year junior to her, "Scor's got it. Same goes for Keeper, I've got it."

"I wanted to tryout for Seeker! I should at least get a chance, I've been practicing and Malfoy could've got worse since he last played. Its only fair you hold a tryout for Seeker since people have turned up for it."

"Who else besides James, wants to try out for Seeker?" Molly called to the small crowd and not a single person raised their hands, "so by people you mean you?"

"Yes."

"Alright," Molly agreed and without warning had her wand whipped out and shot sparks at the chest containing the balls, the Golden Snitch soared into the sky, "what are you two waiting for?"

Scorpius was back on his broom in an instant, moving faster than James and speeding into the air. It was a lot easier to spot without the chaos of a game going on, without the chaos of a game going on the Snitch had less reason to move in the first place. He spotted the glimmer of gold easier and made a beeline for it, James only noticed it because of him and sped after him but far too slow as Scorpius snatched the winged ball from the air, holding it triumphantly up as he returned to Molly with a fuming James flying on his tail.

"Scor gets it!" Molly yelled, "big surprise."

"I demand a rematch! He clearly cheated," James spat, predictably.

"James, you were closer to the Snitch than he was, if anything he had the unfair advantage and he still beat you. You lost. He's a better Seeker than you, accept it. You can bitch and moan and be ignored and not make the team or you can try out for a position you actually have some talent at. Your choice."

"You're mean."

"Was that you accepting option number one?"

"No! I'll try for Beater, I want to be on the team!"

"Well then good because that's next, anyone trying out for Beater step forward."

"Does reserve Beater count?" Freddie's sister Roxy Weasley asked, she was in the third year like James and was tall for her age. Her skin was dark but shades lighter than her brother's and unlike his, her hair was dark. She, Freddie and James were the only ones who stepped forward.

"Yes it does."

Molly did things differently to Cole had, she had them take a few shots with the bat on the ground first just to test their swing and try hit a particular spot on the stands for accuracy, surprisingly all three had power behind their shots but Roxy was behind the boys and her accuracy was way off by comparison, she certainly had potential though.

Molly had them all - including herself, Scorpius and the Chasers - in the air next with the Bludgers, alternating the trio between one defending the other fliers, one trying to hit the other fliers and one just as one of the fliers. Scorpius noticed James deliberately trying to go for him and deliberately trying not to protect him, to a lesser extent he also did the same to Michael and a pockmarked boy that Scorpius didn't know.

"How is it that you're so on target now but manage to nearly hit your own team when we're in games?" Molly wondered to James shaking her head.

After they'd each had three turns on each she announced that she was moving onto Chasers which comprised the remaining students, almost half of which were his friends. Albus had been hit the most times by Bludgers but seemed the most unfazed regardless, grinning madly as Molly told them they had to make their way across the field passing to each other.

"This is it," Albus said to him as he flew past and winked to him, "time to make the team and win my love's heart, the way to a woman's heart is Quidditch!"

Molly had them do this several times, splitting the nine into three teams of three and having them go up the field passing and alternating the teams to see who worked well together so everyone had had a go with everyone. Anyone who went with Rose did badly as her slow speed just made it awkward for everyone, Albus fumbled awkwardly with the Quaffle and dropped it twice, Abby could fly well and pass reasonably but panicked if the Quaffle was thrown at her and dropped it but Michael was quite successful, especially with the other people trying out. The others consisted of two first years, one of which could barely stay on his broom and the other was just terrible at everything, a girl in Freddie and Louis' year - who Scorpius learned was Freddie's girlfriend - who was reasonably average much like Louis, the dashing blonde Weasley Louis himself and the pockmarked boy who looked about Molly's age, he was skilled and the latter three and Michael were easily the best candidates.

Finally Molly moved to the ring and told them to try score against her, the first years and Albus were abysmally bad, Rose was more on target but so slow to aim and score that Molly had plenty of time to easily block it, Louis and Freddie's girlfriend were average, Abby and the pockmarked boy seemed to make Molly work more to block it and Michael - Michael scored _against_ Molly. He was so fast and zigzagging that it was impossible to tell which ring he was aiming for, the only downside was that he couldn't stop and managed to crash into the stands.

"How is it you can so effortlessly weave your way past Bludgers but crash into a giant looming object like a freakin' stand?!" Molly demanded of him as Michael flew back over after insisting he was fine.

"Stopping is hard," Michael pointed out.

They carried on for a bit, Michael's shots were easily the most difficult to block and he scored against Molly once more before Molly changed their routine again, mixing the two tasks and having them pass it to each other from the other end of the pitch and try to score at the end, adding the Beaters into the mix trying to defend and attack after awhile. She started off with mixing the Chaser trios quite a bit but the more time passed the more she started only using a mixture of four individuals, the pockmarked boy, Louis, Freddie's girlfriend and Michael. After awhile she just kept the pockmarked boy in permanently, then stopped removing Michael and finally was just switching between Louis and Freddie's girlfriend before she finally seemed to make a decision. Scorpius had a feeling he already knew who she'd chosen as she called them down to the ground.

"This was a really tough decision but I have decided the team is thus," Molly announced, Albus looked so hopeful it was sad. Everyone else - except the pockmarked boy who was looking anxious - seemed to either have realized they wouldn't get it or resigned themselves to not being bothered too much or stressed by the results, "I, Molly Weasley, am the Keeper and Captain. Scorpius Malfoy is the Seeker. Freddie Weasley -"

"_Fast_ Freddie Weasley," Freddie interrupted proudly.

"No one calls you that but you!" multiple people cried in unison but Freddie's grin remained as Molly rolled her eyes at her cousin.

"Freddie Weasley and James Potter are Beaters, Roxy Weasley as our reserve," Molly continued and everyone seemed to accept this, she paused nervously before continuing, "Caitlin Birch, Tobias Latimer and Michael Sanford are Chasers, Louis Weasley as our reserve."

Reactions were mixed. The two first years - who appeared to be friends - shrugged and walked off together, chatting happily about how they couldn't wait to tell their other friends about how close they got, Roxy and Louis also walked off smiling after being congratulated quickly by Freddie, Latimer looked extremely relieved as he too walked off. Freddie proceeded to congratulate his girlfriend by kissing her and announcing how fantastic she was which made the pale blond giggle as they walked off hand-in-hand with each other. Abby and Rose called their congratulations and headed back to get out of the cold. Albus and Michael looked too stunned for words while James looked ready to start frothing at the moment.

"Are you sure you didn't get my name confused with someone else?" Michael asked carefully.

"What the hell?!" James burst out after a second of silent fuming before Molly could reply, "you pick Malfoy the psycho as Seeker - even though _clearly_ it should be me because he's a dirty, rotten cheat - and then the butt-ugly freak Latimer and Dragon-breath the loser as Chasers?! Have you completely lost your mind?!"

"As I said," Molly pointed out firmly, "Scor beat you, how many times does he have to win for you to get that he has skill? Latimer has talent - appearance is irrelevant - and so does Michael."

"He _crashed_ in to a bloody _stand_!"

"He _scored_ _against me_! On a school broom no less! We can work on the stopping issue."

"Its not a team its a freakshow of losers!"

"You will talk about your teammates with respect on the pitch or get off the team," Molly growled fiercely and James' anger seemed to be reigned in by the threat, "I've made my decision. When you're Captain you can choose who you like but I've chosen."

"Fine," James spat and stalked off still looking livid.

"So... So I really made the team?" Michael asked again and Molly cast him a smile.

"Yes, yes you did. Well done," Molly told him and Michael smiled cautiously before she turned to Albus, "Al, I wanted to ask you a favor. I know this isn't usual but-"

"Whatever it is I'll do it!" Albus interrupted desperately, "anything to get on the team."

"Err... well I just wondered if you'd lend Michael your broom for practices and games, since he doesn't have one and all and the _Cloudcutter_ is a bloody good broom."

"Oh, that's alright, yeah of course," Albus muttered as realization dawned on him, he stared at his feet but Scorpius still caught the crushing disappointment on his face and the tears glistening in his green eyes as he added something so quiet that Scorpius wasn't sure if he'd spoken at all, "not like I wanted to be on the team or anything."


	17. II: Reflections

_**Thanks to**: Lucifersdaughter and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_I meant help with his Dyslexia_**  
_To a certain extent yes_

**_We going to see more Jack if he's going to do something for Scorpius?_**  
_Yeah Jack will be in it again soon enough_

**_James ever gonna get over himself?_**  
_Can't really answer that, he may or may not in the future with everything that happens_

* * *

_"Th-The Dark Lord has a child?" Brutus stammered fearfully, suddenly hoping it was just random children he was guarding._

_"He has two actually, twins," Rodolphus told him and smirked cruelly before continuing walking, "your job is to guard the psychotic little bastards, growing up in Azkaban has left them more than a little unhinged even if they weren't the son and daughter of the Dark Lord himself. So you see, while they have the physical bodies of children... I consider them anything but, don't be afraid to Cruciate them if they become unruly, you have to keep them in line somehow and they only respond to pain."_

_"Can't I have a different task?" Brutus asked worriedly as they stopped by a door that looked like it led to the basement, Rodolphus wave his wand at it and he heard a click before it swung open._

_"No," Rodolphus said plainly and flicked his wand again._

_Brutus was knocked magically back through the door and barely managed to stop himself from falling down the stairs, grabbing the wooden railing tightly to steady himself as the door slammed and clicked locked behind him leaving him there. He had to blink a few times to adjust his eyes to the dimness, he shivered at the coldness of the room in comparison to the rest of the manor and peered down the wooden steps in the shadows._

_He gulped nervously and fumbled in his pocket for his wand, gripping it tightly even if he was afraid to draw it in case it provoked them. He cautiously stepped down and their faces came into view, mathematically speaking he knew they'd be... thirteen going on fourteen? Something like that, although Azkaban seemed to have stunted their physical growth as they passed for younger than that. They were about the same height with identical haircuts, it seemed to have been hacked short just above their shoulders, the black locks were a tangled mess matted with dirt - as he stepped closer he noted they smelled horrible too. Their clothes looked old, worn and too big for their frightfully thin bodies. They both had the same dark, flinty eyes gazing up at him but that was the end of their similarities._

_It was hard to tell if their facial structure was similar as the one on the right looked like they'd been badly beaten, the face was blotchy and discolored from bruises, one of the eyes was swollen shut even. There were marks on the neck as if they'd been strangled and one of the sleeves was ripped up, revealing what looked like fresh cuts in some pattern on the arm. The one on the left seemed to have been spared the abuse, their skin was incredibly pale and waxy, it looked like it had just been stretched over the skull. He thought the one on the left might be the girl, the features seemed more feminine but it was hard to tell with the state of them._

_"They put you down here too?" the right one asked timidly and Brutus nodded slowly without taking his eyes from them, afraid of the pair attacking him if he let his guard down for a second, "its not so bad, there's room to walk around more and there's so many things down here. Its not as good as outside but it'll be okay, don't be scared."_

_"I'm not scared," Brutus growled angrily._

_"Neither are we," the left one said defensively, "do... do you have a name?"_

_"Brutus Ashain," Brutus answered hesitantly as he sat down on one of the steps, "and yours?"_

_"I'm Tommy Riddle and this is my sister, Sal," the right one - Tommy - introduced himself, confirming Brutus' suspicions on which was who before Tommy darted down the stairs into the clutter of objects that had been discarded down there._

_At first glance it was a mixture of junk and treasure, there were some Dark Artifacts that his grandfather would love that he could see. He was so distracted for a moment by what he was looking at that he hadn't noticed Sal coming up the stairs and sitting beside him, not until he registered that his hand was being moved. He snatched his hand away from her cold bony fingers, Sal just peered at him curiously._

_"Look," Tommy said and Brutus looked away from her to the boy who was holding a mirror that he shoved at him, Brutus noticed the cuts on his arm forced a crudely cut Dark Mark, "there's a child trapped inside and we can't figure out how to save them, we've tried asking them how to help them but when their mouth moves no sound comes out and they only try to talk while we're asking the questions. Do you have an ideas?"_

_"Um... you know this is a mirror, right?" Brutus asked looking between the twins who both looked genuinely concerned._

_"Ah so that's what its called, we couldn't decide whether it was a magical prison or a portal to another dimension that traps people."_

_"Don't you know what a mirror is?"_

_"A portal to magic prison?" Sal guessed._

_"No! Its just a mirror, there's millions of them."_

_"There's millions of people trapped and no one can do anything to save them? That's horrible," Tommy offered tearfully, "why does no one help them? Who traps them?"_

_"How does it work?" Sal questioned looking intensely curious, "could we trap the Death Eaters in there?"_

_"There's no one trapped in them! Mirrors just show reflections, even muggles can use them. The child you see is just yourself, the mirror just reflects what it sees, you're just seeing a reflection of yourself," Brutus explained, hoping they could grasp that._

_"Oh right," the twins said in unison as a look of understanding came over them both._

_"At least there's no one trapped," Tommy commented taking back the mirror, "do you know what this other stuff is?"_

_Brutus spent the better part of two hours being presented with items from the Malfoy's basement by Tommy and Sal and asked to identify them, some of them were commonplace like the mirror and more valuable, rare or dark, more than once he told them to leave something alone because it was dangerous. Some things he didn't even know what they were, the Malfoys had accumulated quite a collection over the years._

_What surprised him more than the collection itself were the twins themselves, their childish curiosity was just that, childish. If no one had told him then he wouldn't have guessed they were the children of pure evil and his most fanatical follower, they weren't quite normal he would admit and they came across as less mature than he'd expect for people nearing fourteen years of age but they didn't seem particularly sinister. Then again, he supposed they could simply be lulling him into a false sense of security._

_"What about this?" Sal asked as she came over to him holding a white orb, Brutus' jaw would have dropped if his mouth wasn't too lopsided. He couldn't believe the Malfoys had one._

_"Its a Blood Rune Orb," Brutus answered still staring at the white orb in Sal's hand, he blinked in surprise as he realized the daughter of the Dark Lord had a pure white soul before carefully taking it from her. He held his breath for a moment, expecting it to turn black or gray for him for joining the ranks of the Death Eaters but it remained white, "its part of a set, powerful and ancient magic, my grandfather has one."_

_"Its pretty," Tommy commented as he came over and took the orb, it immediately turned gray at his touch, "why did it change color?"_

_"You have a tainted soul apparently," Brutus informed him darkly, that was more in line with what he'd expect for the son of the Dark Lord but Tommy looked horrified to the verge of tears, "we have pure white innocent souls but you're tainted."_

_"I-I don't want to have a tainted soul, why do I have a tainted soul?"_

_"Well that's what happens when you kill someone."_

_"I've never killed anyone!" Tommy shrieked so high-pitched that Brutus cringed._

_"Well you did something else bad then," Brutus pointed out and couldn't decide whether to feel bad or not as tears started streaming from Tommy's eyes, falling onto the gray orb he cradled in his small bony hands. Brutus cursed himself for feeling sympathy for the future lord of darkness as he added, "it could be worse, gray is tainted but black means you're pure evil and have forsaken every good part of yourself. You can't be pure good again but you can stop yourself from being evil."_

_"Its a good thing," Sal spoke up, eying her brother with interest, "you can kill the Death Eaters without feeling guilty."_

_"I'm never killing anyone!" Tommy screamed determinedly through his tears, Brutus flinched at the high-pitched sound once more and the discarded mirror exploded for no reason, shooting shards up into the sky, "I don't want to be evil."_

_"There is no good and evil, they're just labels we give based on our morality..."_

* * *

There was a noticeable difference in two of his friend's moods for the rest of the day, Michael was ecstatic to have made the team and Albus was so withdrawn that he barely said anything at all. Scorpius wasn't sure if the others picked up on his change or not but he was worried, Michael would calm down when the excitement wore off but Albus... Scorpius didn't know whether he was just upset at not making the team or resentful of Michael for succeeding, Scorpius hoped sleeping on it would snap Albus out of it and everything would be back to normal tomorrow. It wasn't.

Albus was still in a bad mood at breakfast, he didn't make one comment on Vipera or on anything unless he was asked a question and his bad mood only worsened when Vipera congratulated Michael on making the Gryffindor Quidditch team which cheered the muggle-born up slightly. Michael's good mood had only lasted until Charms, once more Grant refused to accept his paper and wrote another zero on the front. Scorpius thought it was unnecessarily unfair, Michael's writing was actually legible that time and he also refused to accept Scorpius' as he claimed it was too short this time - despite the fact Albus and Abby's were shorter - and gave him a zero as well. It made his wrist burn again, he despised Grant and his unfair bias.

"You should tell Marius," Corin told him at dinner, "he'll make Grant back off because he is way out of line."

"I don't really want to bother him," Scorpius mumbled.

"He'd probably be glad to see you, plus he'd want to know if Grant's making people miserable. Mother is Headmistress of Beauxbatons and she'd want to know if a teacher wasn't treating students right."

"What you really need to do is get revenge," Maurice pointed out darkly with a cold smile, "you could use your friendship with the house-elves to add a little something extra to his morning pumpkin juice. I know how to make this potion that causes vivid gruesome hallucinations designed to drive the drinker insane, or this one that causes despair, or this one that makes you relieve your worst memories or this one that causes intense unbearable pain in the drinker."

"Do they really teach you that in Beauxbatons?" Rose wondered looking horrified.

"No!" Corin protested angrily.

"The school I went to before Beauxbatons taught it," Maurice explained with a shrug, "it'd be cool to try it out. Actually there's some spells I am really dying to try out that I learned there, they teach you the spells but I was too young to practice them. They would be good for revenge, some could do some serious damage but dueling a teacher isn't particularly smart whereas you could get away with the potion, well you could curse him in the back I guess but I'm not that kind of person."

"What is wrong with you?" Rose demanded shaking her head and Maurice shot her a dark look, "no one cares about your disturbing dark potions or spells and we wouldn't use them on anyone, even Grant."

"You'd probably be too weak to use them anyway. And they're not that dark, I wasn't suggesting using the Unforgivable Curses or anything. One of them is the _Acutus Curse_ that Varanian used."

"Varanian the psychopath!"

"Varanian was innocent. Your dumb daddy's wrong about him."

"Wait," Scorpius interrupted before Rose could reply, the mention of Varanian reminded him of the former headmaster's words about learning defensive magic, "I want to learn the spells. Not to use them on Grant or James or anything like that, with the Shadows looming we should learn as much about defending ourselves as we can."

"Glad to see the Quidditch air didn't knock the sense out of your mind," Maurice commented and threw a cold triumphant smile at Rose who was scowling, "this weekend good for you?"

"Can everyone stop talking about Quidditch?!" Albus burst out angrily and everyone looked at him in surprise. Scorpius really wished he'd snap out of it already.

But he didn't.

Molly wasted no time in booking the pitch and starting them training, five times a week to train up the new Chasers. In particular Michael's struggle with stopping the broom was addressed, eight times out of ten when he yanked the broom so hard to stop that he nearly fell off and the other two times he didn't pull it hard enough and crashed into the stands or hoops, he could half-crash land on the ground but in the air he struggled. However that didn't mean he lacked talent, as long as he didn't have to stop moving he was actually good. Incredibly good, he could push Albus' _Cloudcutter_ to its limits and still be able to weave his way through the air, dodging Bludgers and players, he was the only one who could score against Molly although his speed made passes more difficult. Latimer was the only one who seemed to find it easy to pass with Michael which made him a good bridge between Michael and either Caitlin or Louis, who both practiced.

Still the practices were different than they'd been last year, the extreme lack of reserves meant they really didn't have enough for fully fledged practice games like Captain Cole had frequently used meaning Molly had to improvise training more to hone their individual skills in a more variety of ways. Scorpius still enjoyed it though, Michael and Molly were his friends and he got along well with Freddie and Louis. he hadn't known Roxy or Caitlin but they were nice enough to him. Latimer was very withdrawn and focused, he didn't smile when he succeeded and cursed himself when he failed, Scorpius supposed he'd just have to get to know him better but he didn't blame him for being shy. Latimer's skin was badly pockmarked on his face and hands, his long dark hair was greasy and filthy, which didn't make him seem very approachable. James enjoyed mocking Latimer behind his back and Roxy, Louis and Caitlin admitted to finding him off-putting. James still despised him and tried to knock him off his broom at every opportunity although he had started to target others now, he hated Michael and Latimer to a lesser extent so tried to hit them too to a lesser extent.

Albus seemed to be in a worse mood after they had had Quidditch practice, Scorpius tried not to mention it but Michael was still excited and would talk about it. The week passed surprisingly quickly but Scorpius still wasn't having a great time of things, the dreams that he couldn't remember continued to bother him, Charms was officially his most hated subject because of Grant and yet again he failed to produce anything in the Patronus lesson. He still didn't hear anything from Varanian nor did he get a reply from Jack.

"This is Jack we're talking about," Michael pointed out on breakfast on Saturday when the owls arrived without a letter from Michael's dad, "don't be surprised if you get a reply three years later about something completely irrelevant. He's not reliable. Not even slightly."

"Did you tell him about making the team?" Abby asked curiously.

"No. Why would I do that? Its not like he cares what happens in my life."

"Oh... What about your mum?"

"No. I can tell her in the summer when the school year ends and I go home."

"Why don't you keep in touch with her over the year?" Corin wondered, "I don't know what I'd do if I couldn't stay in contact with my Maman over the year."

"Because my stepdad doesn't allow it, okay?"

"That's mean."

"Bob's a mean person," Michael said shortly looking exasperated, "can we talk about something else?"

"Okay... Scor, why are you writing to Michael's dad?"

"Its just nothing. Can we talk about something else?" Scorpius answered quickly.

"Well okay, you guys are boys," Rose spoke up, "how do I get Devin to like me?"

"No idea," Michael commented immediately, "none of us have been in relationships, you're asking the wrong people for advice. Next conversation."

"Did you say your Quidditch practice was tomorrow morning or afternoon?" Abby asked.

"Next conversation!" Albus interrupted loudly before Scorpius or Michael could reply.

"Gee, at this rate we'll have nothing to talk about," Corin complained scowling.

"Then go back to your freaky friend, wherever he is," Rose shrugged it off.

"He was writing a letter to his father, Roman is really obsessed about Orous doing as well as him right now. And he's not freaky, he's just a bit dark sometimes and its understandable."

"Okay. Here's another question, what's with the gloves he always wears?"

"Its not my place to say."

"Its weird, do the teachers not have a problem with it?"

"Let it go," Michael spoke up surprisingly and Corin gave him a sideways glance while Rose scowled.

"Do you know why?"

"Yes, so let it go."

Their conversation came to a halt even though Rose didn't look satisfied with this answer, in truth Scorpius wasn't either, he hadn't given Maurice's gloves a lot of thought but now he was curious about Michael knowing. They stopped talking about as Maurice came over to them though, dressed in brown robes that gave him an air of maturity. Scorpius stupid called out hello but it literally fell on deaf ears as Maurice wasn't holding his translator necklace, in fact Scorpius didn't know about the range of it anyway. Maurice put his hand to it as he reached them though and his normally neutral expression was replaced by something resembling excitement.

"So ready to go?" Maurice asked.

Rose steadfastly rejected the idea of going and criticized them for it, Abby already had plans to be with her brother and father and Albus refused after Michael said he was ready to go. Corin also nodded in agreement and hurriedly wolfed down the last of his food. Scorpius snatched up his last slice of toast and ate it as he, Michael and Corin followed Maurice as he led them in the direction of the exit to the grounds. They weren't far from it when they ran into Vern and Orous, both of whom were oddly splattered in yellow paint.

"What happened to you?" Michael wondered worriedly and Vern stared at his feet, Orous remained looking continually depressed.

"James... thought it would be fun to magic paint on us," Vern reluctantly told him, "but its not important. I was looking for you, we're doing about the twelve uses of Dragon's blood in Potions and its really hard, I wondered if you could help me? Potions is my favorite subject and I don't want to do badly."

"I would love to, I just kind of already have plans but I'll help you as soon as we're done."

"Ooh I need to work on that essay too, there's so many to remember," Corin sighed and looked anxious, Maurice hadn't had his hand on his necklace and had evidently missed out on the conversation. He gestured to Corin who made a few gestures back before Maurice rolled his eyes and Corin looked upset at whatever Maurice had gestured.

"Oh all right, thanks," Vern said brightly and obliviously, "congratulations by the way, on making the Gryffindor team. We'll be rooting for you and Gryffindor at the Quidditch game, even though I don't really understand it."

"You can come with us if you like," Maurice offered to the fellow first years as he stopped his sign conversation with Corin, placing a hand on his translator necklace as he spoke, "come and learn some powerful magic spells."

"Thanks for the offer but I have a ton of homework so I can't and... well spells scare me anyway."

"Spells scare... are you wizard or not?" Maurice demanded looking bewildered at Vern's line of thought, Vern seemed uncomfortable.

"Well yes but I didn't want to be wizard."

"Fine, whatever. What about you, Orous?"

"No thanks," Orous whispered with a slight shake of his head.

"Enjoy being pelted by paint and treated like dirt then, do you?" Maurice questioned as Orous flicked his crimson eyes up to meet Maurice's, the pair were identical in height, "do you want to be weak and pathetic forever?"

"No."

Maurice didn't say anything else but turned away and carried on walking, they hurried to keep up while Michael called to see them later as Vern and Orous were left. Scorpius glanced back at them to see Orous clench his fist and whisper something to Vern, Vern looked worried but the two boys raced to keep up with them. Maurice led them outside, skirting along the edge of the Black Lake to a quiet out of the way area near the edge of the forest with a large boulder by the lakeside. Maurice climbed onto the boulder to give himself a bit of height before turning to them, placing his hand on his translator necklace once more.

"We're starting with the Acutus Curse, both because its quite simple and you can channel your emotions - particularly frustration I'm thinking - into it. And don't pretend like there isn't something frustrating you because that's why I said it. Line up by the water," Maurice told them and they immediately obeyed, "I'm going to levitate some sticks or rocks into the air in front of you and you are going to slash your wand at the item hovering directly in front of you as you say the incantation. There is no wand movement beyond whatever way you slash it because it'll be the direction the spell takes, funnel your emotions into the magic as you do it and put strength into the movement. When I say go, do it. The incantation is _Acuta_."

Maurice let go of his necklace and levitated a stick high into the air then let it go, swiping his wand vertically as he said _Acuta_ to demonstrate. The stick was severed clean in half. Vern swallowed nervously. Maurice cast the Levitation Charm again, this time five sticks rose into the air and one hovered in front of each of them before Maurice said go. He didn't drop this time - he didn't need to - so they simply took aim and said the spell, Scorpius thought of his frustration with his inability to get in contact with Varanian, let it build up before he slashed with the spell. His stick broke completely in half and the shards fell into the water, looking around he saw that the only other person to have succeeded was the left-handed Orous.

Maurice levitated him and Orous fresh sticks while managing to keep the other three hovering for the others who were still trying, Scorpius and Orous effortlessly severed their sticks once more. And again. And again. Maurice kept raising them and they kept hitting them, he started lifting stones that were in more abundance and he and Orous continued to destroy them. Again, and again, and again. Left to right. Right to left. Up to down. Down to up. Diagonally left to right. Diagonally right to left. Scorpius slashed every which way and then some, it was good target practice and he was enjoying it. Unleashing his pent up frustration into the spell was oddly cathartic, not just his frustration either, his anger, his pain, his worry, his grief, he put it all into the power of the spell and lashed out with all the strength he had. Thrice Maurice went to stop to get them to do something else and twice Scorpius yelled at him not to stop - even though he didn't think volume made a difference to the translator neckalce, the third time it was Orous who begged him not to stop.

Scorpius didn't know how long it went on for, Corin, Vern and Michael had long since upped and left but they kept at it. He didn't want to stop until there was nothing left of his inferno of emotion, his wrist was burning and had been for awhile but he didn't care. He pretended the rocks were all the people he hated, the Shadow Master, the Shadows, Marvin, Joel, Linden, Grant, James, James' friends and destroyed them all repeatedly. It made him feel so much better.

"Your wrist!" Maurice cried suddenly and dropped the stones before they could hit them.

Scorpius looked in panic at his wrist but saw nothing, out of the corner of his eye though he thought he saw Orous had a ring of fire around his left wrist. He went to do a double take and the fire was gone, Orous was just standing there lowering his wand and panting, much like Scorpius was. He hadn't realized how incredibly drained he felt until they'd stopped, he staggered back and sat on the stony shore. Orous did the same only he hugged his knees to his chest and gripped the ends of the wand in each hand, Maurice stepped down and came over to them, looking more tired than usual.

"Your wrist was on fire," Maurice repeated anxiously, sitting down on the shore with a view of them both as he put a hand to his translator necklace.

"No it wasn't," Orous said quietly.

"Yes it was, I saw it."

"No it wasn't. You must have been seeing things."

"You saw it right, Scor?"

"I thought I did," Scorpius admitted and tried to shrug but it made him dizzy, "but just a glimpse, it could've been a trick of the light. I feel kind of worn out."

"Because we've been at this for hours," Maurice pointed out, "the others already left to work on their homework. Are you sure that you're okay, Orous?"

"I'm sure. My wrist is fine," Orous whispered still staring into the lake although Scorpius wasn't sure if he was telling the truth or not or if he'd been seeing things or not. It seemed unlikely Orous would be afflicted by whatever strange thing happened to Scorpius' wrist but then Maurice had thought he'd seen it too. Orous stood up, his white hair blowing gently in the breeze, "I'm done for today. Goodbye. Thank you for that though, that was good. Maybe we do have something in common."

"We have nothing in common," Maurice said firmly but Orous had walked away without another word.


	18. II: Building and Breaking

_**Thanks to**: Lucifersdaughter, SDF and Aya Diefair for reviewing!_

**_Does Orous have the same thing Scorpius has?_**  
_I'm sorry but I can't answer that_

**_Will we get to see Bellatrix's view on her children?_**  
_Maybe, do people want to see Bellatrix's view on her children? There's some flashback scenes I'm definitely putting in but there's loads more I'm on the fence on, a scene with Bellatrix and her children is one of the biggest fencers, that and the night Calderon saves Varanian  
_

**_Is Orous the kid Scorps was magically connected to in the first book?_**  
_I'm sorry but I can't answer that either_

**_Couldn't be, cause that kid had his magic taken...right?_**  
_Yes that boy did have his magic taken but that doesn't mean they didn't give it back or do anything else to him if they didn't want him to die_

* * *

_"So what's this one a picture of, Brutus?" Tommy asked as he showed him an old picture of a dragon in flight, painted by one of the famous wizard artists his grandfather would kill for but the Malfoys had discarded it in the basement like it was nothing. _

_"A dragon," Brutus told him tiredly, the twins showed no sign of getting sleepy despite the late hour and he was being subject to more questions about the basement items. Brutus was sure there couldn't be much left that he hadn't seen yet, then again he hadn't left the basement steps and it was so dark down there that he wasn't sure how big it was or how many things there were. _

_"A dragon?" Tommy repeated enthusiastically and gazed at the picture, "I like that one. Dragons look awesome, it looks so free. It must be amazing to be free."_

_"Must be."_

_"We'll be free one day," Sal pointed out determinedly, "if the Death Eaters don't release us and treat us like they should treat the children of our Father then I'll kill them all. We'd be free already if you hadn't moved the chandelier. Why did you do that? They deserved to die." _

_"I don't know, my first instinct was to protect them," Tommy said slowly as he went to put the picture back, "we shouldn't kill. You shouldn't want to kill."_

_"It would prove to our parents that we shouldn't be down here."_

_"Killing is wrong."_

_"Why don't you sleep on it and talk about it tomorrow?" Brutus growled as he went to check the watch on his wrist, pulling back the sleeve and he heard two gasps. He glanced back up and saw the twins looking at his arm in horror, he started to wonder why before he noticed the Dark Mark he'd been given was now clearly visible, "its just the Dark Mark, it can't hurt you."_

_"That's like what Death Eaters have!"_

_"I am a Death Eater," Brutus pointed out, even though it sounded weird to be saying it and the looks of horror only deepened, something else exploded in the basement, "why do you think I'm down here?"_

_"We thought you were one of us," Sal spoke up as her face twisted into an angry snarl. There was another small explosion from the dark, "not one of them."_

_"No its my job to guard you but-"_

_Brutus didn't bother to finish his sentence as the twins bolted down into the darkness like their heels were on fire, he had to cast the wand-lighting charm to see where they'd went. The pair were huddled together in the furthest corner from him, eying him with a mixture of fear and betrayal that made him feel incredibly guilty. Brutus let go the light and headed back up the stairs, suddenly feeling wide awake._

* * *

Scorpius actually didn't give Orous' wrist a lot of thought, he didn't _want_ to give it a lot of thought. He barely gave his own any thought, he didn't know why it happened and he didn't want to know, he'd taken to wearing Michael's friendship bracelet over the scar on his wrist so he didn't even have to look at it although the bruising that wasn't bruising seemed to be returning. He was sure he'd just been seeing things, a trick of the light from too much magic or Orous had simply been doing the magic wrong, that seemed like the most plausible explanation.

He had other things to worry about anyway, class wise he was failing Charms and Astronomy and he still had to produce even a speck of silver in the Patronus lesson. Astronomy became an hour to worry about the Shadow situation and lack of news from Varanian although he was still scraping good marks on his homeworks for the subject, Professor Koray was baffled but Scorpius was pretty sure the professor would think him weak if he knew Scorpius had a hard time concentrating because of the events of last year so he said nothing. Charms was a different matter, he seemed just as able to master spells at he had before but Grant forever found fault with them and continually marked his essays down if he couldn't find a good enough excuse to give him a zero like poor Michael. Scorpius had pretty much given up on the subject by the end of September, using the time instead to fantasize about dating Molly.

On the other hand he was still the best in the class for Defense Against the Dark Arts - ignoring the Patronus lesson - and Transfiguration, both of which remained his favorite subjects. While he wasn't the best at Potions, Herbology or History of Magic, he consistently got high marks so he wasn't doing terribly overall. The other good thing in class was Professor Longbottom's return, they turned up for their double lesson first thing on a Wednesday in the third week of September and there he was. He was still looking pale and the absence of his left arm was painfully obvious but he was in good spirits considering, Scorpius supposed he was glad to finally be out of the hospital wing. Herbology lessons became enjoyable again, they were more practical than last year much to Scorpius' delight and the only major difference because of the professor's missing limb was that he needed volunteers to help him demonstrate things and people were more than willing to volunteer, he was a popular teacher.

In general the teachers seemed to be healing as October dawned though, the minor cuts were vanishing, the major cuts were becoming scars instead - such as Professor Ashain's cheek. The bandages remained but in general the teachers movements seemed less stiff, less pained and less hindering. The Aurors were still there though, suspiciously stalking around like any one of them could be planning to kill them all. The lack of another attack made him more anxious rather than less, in a way he wished that it would happen so he could stop worrying about it but in other he was glad nothing else bad had happened.

He still hadn't heard anything from Varanian about it, or anything from Varanian at all, there hadn't been much about in the paper either. Scorpius figured it was either a good thing and Varanian had just improved his ability to hide or it was a bad thing and something bad had happened to him. Scorpius really hoped it was the first thing. He did finally get a reply from Jack though, in surprisingly neat handwriting no less.

_Hey Scorpius_

_I tracked down those people you asked me about, least I think so anyway as you didn't give me a helluva lot to go on so flying a bit blind there. You'd be surprised how many Ethel Embrys there are, even within the years you gave me there were quite a few, pretty sure I got the right one though._

_Ethel Hyacinth Embry (unfortunate name if you ask me), born February 4th 1972. Went to a normal nursery and primary school but then drops off the face of the planet when she should have gone to high school (figured that was because Hogwarts). Resurfaces at eighteen to get a driver's license and a marriage certificate to a Philip Jareth Kenyon Varanian (urgh name, no record of him outside of that) and then dies on Xmas day 1997 at twenty-five (poor chick, she was hot). No death certificate or cause of death that I could find but she has a grave in Plymouth along with her three young kids (no records of them outside of their graves either but same date of death, real sad). That sound like whose parents you wanted? She was an only child to her parents who are still alive and kicking._

_Mother is Gail Glenda Embry (nee Walters) born October 1st 1949, a retired real estate agent. Father is Richard David Emrby, born January 22nd 1949, owned his own construction business. They married when they were twenty-one and moved into the house that they've lived in ever since for nearly fifty years (lame if you ask me, staying in the same place is for suckers, boring). The address is: 3 Penrose Street, Plymouth, England._

_Okay now I'm done being awesome, I reckon that lines up. I don't know why you want to know but there you go, anything else you need to know or want done or want to find anyone else just ask. But you owe me one, remember that, favors work both ways._

_Jack_

_PS: say hi to Mikey for me_

Scorpius memorized the address and names of the Embrys for future reference, even though he kept the letter. He knew it was right - assuming the rest of Jack's information was accurate - because it did line up, plus how many Philip Jareth Kenyon Varanians could there be? He at least felt he'd made some progress with knowing the address of Varanian's in-laws. Although there was still no guarantee they actually knew where Varanian was or that they he could get them to tell him, he was just going off a brief mention anyway and he couldn't even get to them while he was in Hogwarts anyway but it was something. He was tempted to just write them and ask about Varanian but even if they told him - which he thought was unlikely - then it risked being intercepted, he didn't want Varanian to get caught or killed and he certainly didn't want to be responsible.

The only other major change in his routine was spending sessions with Maurice and Orous to practice spells, Scorpius and Orous were content to vent their frustrations with _Acuta_ but Maurice insisted on trying the other spells at least some of the time. There was a flame throwing spell they practiced, not a small candle light but a major burst of fierce flame, the Dragonfire spell it was called - they excelled at that one - and another that produced a bolt of lightning, that one was much more difficult but dangerous if mastered, Maurice demonstrated it by killing a spider with it and that was just his weak version of it. Maurice seemed determined for them to do better at it before he moved on so they remained with those spells, the Acutus Curse was still the one that both Scorpius and Orous favored.

"I don't get why you like it," Michael commented one day with a sigh, "its the spell Varanian used to attack you and Calderon, your feet are _scarred_ from it."

"Doesn't mean the spell is bad," Scorpius said defensively, "you would understand if you could do the spell, its good to get everything out."

"Its dangerous magic, it can't be healed remember?"

"Its not like I'm planning on using it on anyone."

"Do you promise?"

"Promise?"

"Not to use it on anyone."

"I can't promise that," Scorpius complained with a roll of his eyes, "what if we get attacked again? The whole point is being able to protect myself because I'm not going to be weak and pathetic and let anyone hurt me ever again."

"How about promise to not use it on anyone unless your life is danger?" Michael prompted.

"Will it stop you nagging me?"

"Sure."

"Then fine. I promise. I won't use it on anyone unless my life is in danger."

"Thank you," Michael offered looking extremely relieved.

Scorpius' friends weren't the only ones who disagreed with him using the spell, Vern thought it was dangerous and even Corin had asked them to be careful or to just stop because it was borderline Dark Magic. The trio ignored it though, it wasn't like they were hurting anyone and the reason Maurice used stones and sticks was purposely to not damage walls or trees because the damage done by the spell was irreversible on more than just human targets. It was therapeutic, Scorpius had a lot of things to be frustrated about and he liked not feeling weak, he was incredibly proud of his aim with it too. He didn't mind spending time with Maurice and Orous either, he knew Rose didn't like Maurice but Scorpius thought got along with them both.

In some ways he actually preferred them to his friends, Albus' attitude was increasing cold and resentful towards Michael and if they hadn't noticed before they did then. Albus shot down all of Michael's conversation attempts which just seemed to confuse the others and upset Michael, Scorpius didn't know what to do about it. On one hand he thought he wanted to confront Albus and tell him he was being an idiot but on the other, he didn't want to risk that it wouldn't work and just kept hoping things would get better.

Not all things got magically better though. Scorpius continued to fail miserably at casting a Patronus, or rather anything resembling a silver wisp. By the time October came everyone bar him - and Nott - had produced a sliver of silver light at least once, Scorpius was settle for that. No one had cast a real Patronus yet but Professor Ashain didn't expect them too, he wanted them to all be able to produce a wisp of silver every time before worrying about making it into a shield or making it last longer. The majority - including Albus and Rose - were in the usually able to but not always group while the minority were either better or worse, a few - including Abby - could produce silver almost every time while others - including himself and Michael - couldn't almost every time. Michael at least did do it on the rare occasion, Scorpius hadn't produced a speck of silver once, no matter how hard he tried. As long as Nott hadn't either, he felt as though it was forgivable for him to not be the sole worst person in the class who couldn't do anything at all.

The first years were worse off then them, at the start of October his first year friends claimed most people were only in the only rarely able category like Corin and Vern. Much like Scorpius, Maurice and Orous had yet to produce anything silvery despite being naturally skilled at other spellwork. The older years were better off, from Roxy he learned people in the third year were in a similar boat to the second years except everyone had at least produced something at least once by that point. The fourth years had also all produced something, there was no one who could only do it rarely and the worst off were people - such as Latimer - who could only do it half the time. The fifth years could all do it nearly all the time or all of the time without fail, they were moving on to trying to expanding it and making it last longer. The sixth years were in a similar boat to the fifth years except they were further along, although Dom wasn't sure exactly as she was still able to produce a full-bodied Patronus, she was very proud of her silver Golden Eagle and didn't pay a lot of attention to the others.

It was at the end of the first week of October that Scorpius heard a sound he'd dreaded near the end of their Patronus lesson, Nott exciting exclaiming that he'd produced a wisp. Scorpius even glanced over and saw the silvery wisp for himself before it vanished. It was official. He was the worst student in the class. Not just any class but Professor Ashain's class. His favorite professor. The professor who'd saved his life at nearly the cost of his own. All he asked was them to produce one fleck of silver and Scorpius couldn't even do that. He felt tears well in his eyes as all hope of finally getting it was crushed.

The class ended and everyone but him filed out, he waved his friends off that he wanted them to go on without him. He didn't trust himself to speak lest the lump in his throat choke up the tears, he didn't trust himself to move either in case it lodged the tears from his eyes.

"Something wrong, Scor?" Professor Ashain questioned coming over to him.

"I'm sorry," Scorpius managed to get out before the tears burst from his eyes. He pressed his hands into his eyes to try and stem the flow of tears but it didn't work, he sobbed into his hands and willed his eyes to stop crying. He was just making things worse. Now he was a failure and pathetic. He cried harder.

"Hey its okay, you don't have to be sorry. Whatever's wrong it'll be okay," Professor Ashain offered awkwardly and he felt a comforting hand on his shoulder, the professor seemed unsure whether to pat his shoulder or rub it soothingly so instead made a strange jerky movements. It made Scorpius feel more at ease nonetheless and he managed to hold off his tears enough to speak, "are you okay?"

"I'm s-sorry that I'm a f-failure."

"You're not a failure, you're the best in your year. At my subject anyway."

"Not at casting a Patronus! I c-can't do it and ev-everyone else can. I'm a failure," Scorpius explained and went to bury his face in his hands again as the tears leaked fast his eyes again but Professor Ashain stopped him.

"You're not a failure and no one in the class has managed a proper Patronus yet anyway, its difficult magic. Do you know how long it took me?" Professor Ashain explained and Scorpius met his chestnut brown eyes as he shook his head, "two years, I was nineteen when I first cast it. My father decided to teach us it as soon as we came of age and I spent my last year of Hogwarts failing miserably at what my father and brother had mastered in weeks, in my Auror training I still failed much to Mad-Eye's irriation. I'm not just saying its difficult to make people feel better at the lack of success, it really is difficult and witches and wizards have spent longer than I did with it with no success."

"Re-Really?"

"Yes, really! I've known _Aurors_ who couldn't do it. Although failure is better than maggots, I remember my grandfather proclaiming I was struggling because I was lazy and stupid so to prove it was easy he tried to cast it and instead a swarm of maggots came from his wand and tried to devour him, we had to fight them off to save him. But not the point, the point is that is hard to do. You're barely twelve years old, give yourself a break. Worrying about it and getting upset isn't going to help, you'll get it in your own time."

"Why is it so hard for me?" Scorpius asked wiping his eyes, "I'm usually good at spells, since I've gotten my wand magic just comes easily to me but not for this and I don't know why I'm suddenly doing terribly and I don't like failing."

"I don't know. You can't be good at everything, its okay to have high standards but not so high they're impossible."

"I don't want my family to be right about me being... ruined and unable to anything."

"I'm sure they don't think that and if they do then its wrong, you're a talented wizard and having difficulty with a difficult charm doesn't mean you're unable to do anything."

"Why was it hard for you?"

"I'm not sure exactly. I wasn't very good at understanding my emotions let alone using them in magic, I wasn't really very happy either and I had a hard time feeling positive, had a hard time choosing a memory in fact. The more I failed the worse I did because I started expecting to fail, you can't think like that or you will fail. Its self-defeating. Take your pick."

"How did you get it in the end?"

"I just worked on my issues and eventually got it, in a way it worked to my advantage. Dementors unhinge you, make you feel like there's no hope left and make you relive your worst memories, its what makes it hard to fight them off because you have to push past it to cast the Patronus. Because I already had struggled and overcame it I found it easier than most to push past it to use the spell," Professor Ashain told him, "you'll get it, Scor, just don't be so hard on yourself. Have a think about what you think you're struggling with and tell me next week so I can try to help, sound good?"

"Yeah," Scorpius nodded and gave him a weak smile, "thanks, Professor."

"No problem," Professor Ashain offered with a strained smile in reply, Scorpius had gotten so accustomed to the bags beneath his eyes that he'd almost stopped registering the professor's lack of sleep, "just don't get upset about it, eh?"

"Does it still hurt a lot? The wound you got saving my life?" Scorpius asked worriedly.

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. Come on now, we don't want to miss the whole of lunch."

* * *

_Brutus sighed heavily, sitting on the steps staring down into the darkness where he knew the twins were huddled in the corner where they'd ran the second he'd returned. Just as they had the last few times he'd been set to the guard them, from what he'd gathered it was fairly standard behavior in reaction to their Death Eater guards, they stayed away from the Death Eaters and the Death Eaters stayed away from them which was an arrange the others were happy with. But not Brutus._

_It was boring just sitting there doing nothing and he didn't think it was healthy or fun for the twins to just sit there silently in the dark everyday, unless they were being 'taught' to do magic with a wand. He didn't agree with that, torturing a child was wrong regardless of who their parents were and they were children. The other Death Eaters just tended to think of them as monsters, to be fair Brutus had thought that at first too but if they spent five minutes with them then they'd see that they were people, slightly odd maybe but still human. Then again people were judgmental bastards like that, he'd had a similar problem being judged his whole life from being deformed, the other Death Eaters looked down on him for it and avoided speaking to him unless they had to. The twins hadn't been like that though._

_He twiddled his wand in his hands before making up his mind. He got to his feet and headed down the steps, lighting up his wand to see in the darkness. He shivered violently at the cold down there, despite the fact it was almost summer. He approached the twins, Sal was furthest in the corner with Tommy on her right, he put his arm out protectively in front of her._

_"Look I'm not going to hurt you," Brutus said firmly but they didn't look convinced, although it was harder to tell with the bruises on Tommy's face, it gave him an idea, "I'm not evil. Look I'll help you."_

_He aimed his wand at Tommy's face and tried to recall the spell, he knew he'd succeeded when he saw the bruises healing. Tommy gasped in surprise and put his hands to his face as if to check that the pain was gone, Sal looked between the wand and her brother's face curiously. Brutus smiled cautiously, if anything at least he'd remembered the spell and Atticus said he never listened to him._

_"See? All better," Brutus pointed out and he saw a shadow of a smile on Tommy's face, "my brother taught me that."_

_"You have a brother?" Tommy wondered in amazement._

_"Yeah, Atticus," Brutus told him and fumbled in his pocket to withdraw the picture he kept on him of the pair of them with their father, the twins stood up to peer at it intently, "that's my brother, my father and me."_

_"Are they Death Eaters?" Sal asked._

_"No," Brutus answered firmly, for whatever bizarre reason he had his father would have preferred to die rather than be a Death Eater and Atticus still hated them because of his mother. Brutus still hadn't figured out how to sway his brother from his beliefs but Atticus was smart, he'd have to see reason when the war started, he'd have to. Being a Death Eater earned his family protection, at least as long as they weren't fighting against them anyway which meant he'd have to change Atticus' mind somehow. _

_"Can we meet them?" Tommy inquired and Brutus nearly laughed trying to imagine a ludicrous scenario where the half-mad son of Voldemort could ever get along with his brother._

_"No."_

_"Why is everyone happy in the picture?" Sal wondered._

_"Because my brother had just recently graduated Hogwarts and got really good grades."_

_"Your brother went to Hogwarts?!"_

_"Did you go to Hogwarts?!" Tommy asked, the twins both looking wide-eyed with awe._

_"Yes we both went to Hogwarts like most people," Brutus pointed out and stopped himself from saying 'like you will' because there was no way they'd ever get to._

_"What was it like?"_

_"Tell us about it," Sal pleaded at the same time as Tommy spoke up, he had to blink as a blinding golden light rippled through the darkness from the excited Tommy. Brutus eyed the pair warily but he supposed accidental magic as normal before he started his account of the school._

* * *

Scorpius was feeling more relaxed about struggling with his Patronus after talking to Professor Ashain, he didn't feel any better about failing but he felt more confident that he could succeed. He thought about it all weekend and decided the problem was probably that he struggled with thinking of a wholly happy memory and letting the positive feeling fill him up, there was always niggling doubts or worry or something bothering him with everything which was what made him change the memory he used so much. He wasn't sure how to overcome this exactly but he was sure Professor Ashain would have some idea when they talked about it the next lesson, satisfied with that he was looking forward to the week.

Scorpius finished brushing his teeth, Angelo was still in the shower and Reuben had just started on his teeth while Michael and Albus were already in the dormitory. Scorpius headed back into the dormitory looking forward to sleep only to find himself arriving in the middle of an argument.

"You do have a problem!" Michael was saying, standing facing Albus who was lying in bed, "you just ignore me and hardly say anything at all, what is going on with you? What is your problem?"

"My problem is you!" Albus roared, throwing off the covers and sitting up to glare at Michael who looked immediately hurt and confused, "all you do is go on about Quidditch practice, just to rub it in my face that you're on the team and I'm not! That you're skilled and I'm not! I practiced all summer, like every single day and you don't even a broom but you stole my spot! I could've been on the team if not for you!"

"What? You're mad at me for making the team?"

"Of course I'm mad!"

"I only tried out in the first place because you convinced me too."

"Only because I didn't think you'd be any good! I didn't think that you'd be better than me! You suck at everything, why couldn't you be bad at this one thing that I needed?!"

"So-So what, I can't be good at anything?!" Michael yelled with tears welling in his eyes.

"And then to make it worse you use _my_ broom! I should be the one on the broom! I should be the one on the team! I should be the one Vipera likes!"

"You said it was okay!"

"Of course I said it was okay! If I'd said no then it would make me seem like an asshole!"

"Well what do you expect me to do? Quit the team?!"

"That makes me seem like even more of an asshole! I'm not going to deliberately sabotage my team, I want Gryffindor to win. I expected you to be a better friend! I expected you to let me have this one thing!"

"Well you... you are being an asshole! There's plenty of things I could resent you for but I don't, you don't struggle to read or write or spell, you don't have everything you do torn apart by Grant, you don't not know things everyone else does because they grew up in the magical world and you didn't, you don't get bullied, you don't struggle so much with magic, you don't have a rune scarred into your chest, you didn't have the Cruciatus Curse used on you over and over and over again, your dad actually gives a damn about your life, you... you get to have a good home life!" Michael cried, tears leaking from his eyes before he finished, "there's a lot I could resent you for, everything about your life is better than mine! But I don't because I accept that things are just different the way they are and I'm glad that you have good things in your life and talents."

"I just wish you hadn't made the team. I wish you weren't on the team," Albus said quietly before lying back down, throwing over the covers and pulling shut the drapes, "I wish you couldn't play."


	19. II: Something to Regret

_**Thanks to:** TessHardingfan, Lucfiersdaughter, Aya Diefair, Winged-panther1, SDF and Guest for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Are all the Potters raging Aholes?__/Are any of the Potters nice at all?_**  
_They all have their good and bad points_

**_So are we gonna see Brutus and Atticus's pasts?_**  
_Yes a bit, although Brutus more so than Atticus. These current flashbacks are from Brutus' point of view so you are seeing his past as well as Calderon and Sal_

**_Is Jack gonna kick Michael's stepdad's ass?_**  
_Not in this book but maybe or maybe not in the future but if/when Jack ever found out about how the stepdad treats Michael and his mother then he would freak_

**_Is Albus gonna stop being a twat?_**  
_Sorry but I can't answer that_

**_Does Calderon know that Ticcy is Brutus' brother?_**  
_Yes he does, he went out of his way to help Ticcy originally out of loyalty to Brutus_

**_Maybe Jack has a more reliable side?_**  
_Yes he does, if something matters to him and he doesn't get sidetracked_

* * *

_Brutus got used to his Death Eater duty revolving around guarding the twins, until the Ministry would admit to the Dark Lord having returned they weren't in outright war and while there were things being done it wasn't believed to be within Brutus' skill set. Plus only a handful of people knew about the twins in the first place and everyone would rather keep it that way, the majority of the handful were so high-ranking that they were busy with more important things so people like Brutus were left to watch over them. _

_Brutus didn't mind so much, it was a distraction from the looming war that he knew could officially start at any moment, the war that his little brother was an Auror in. Besides, it was rather a nice change being listened too and being the one who knew things, the twins never looked at him with disgust like most people did, they were more than happy to listen to him talk about... pretty much anything, Hogwarts in particular seemed to fascinate them and they never grew bored of listening to him talk about it. He spent more time with Sal than he did Tommy though, Tommy was the one frequently taken away to be taught to use magic leaving him alone with Sal. _

_He thought it was rather a stupid way of doing it. They hadn't been to Hogwarts, they hadn't even learned the basic of basic spells so trying to pressure them to do magic of their age group was foolish as naturally they were three years behind their peers. That and torturing them wasn't the best incentive, how they were supposed to focus on what they were doing when they were in pain or terrified of failing and being in pain? They may be lacking in some knowledge but at the core they were intelligent kids, it never ceased to amaze him how they could bounce from extreme childishness and unusual maturity but they weren't stupid. _

_And they weren't squibs. Tommy especially had an increasingly worrying amount of accidental magic, he literally glowed when he was excited and things had a habit of exploding when he was upset, all that was nothing compared to when they pushed him too far in training. Once he'd even come down to tell him he'd accidentally knocked out Rodolphus and didn't know what to do, on that occasion Brutus had erased Rodolphus' memory of the incidence and just told Tommy to say nothing to spare him some sadistic punishment. There was no point making their lives even more miserable if Brutus could help it, even though Rodolphus' wrath scared him just a little bit._

_"Where's Tommy?" Sal asked him one day - or rather night, Brutus was fairly sure it had rolled into being - after he'd finished going over everything he knew about the Blood Rune Orb to appease her curiosity, they were sitting on the floor in the freezing cold - Brutus didn't know how the twins could bear it - basement of Malfoy manor._

_"Still being taught," Brutus answered with a slight shrug, it wasn't unusual unfortunately._

_"Is he going to come back?"_

_"Of course."_

_"When?"_

_"Why the sudden desperation to see him?" _

_"Because today's June sixth," Sal informed him and looked at him like she expected understanding but he couldn't recall anything significant about the date, "its our birthday. Our fourteenth birthday. We've never spent a birthday apart yet or without Mother but she's not exactly around very much anymore, she's a master not one of us."_

_"A master?" Brutus wondered as Sal nodded neutrally and idly took his hand, probing his fingers with her slight bony ones but he snatched his hand away. Again, "what is with you and my hands?"_

_"You have amazing hands."_

_"Well erm... thanks for that but don't keep doing that, people don't really play with other people's hands regardless how amazing the hands are."_

_"Why?" Sal asked bluntly._

_"Because its just... weird. Its not like we're dating."_

_"Oh. Can we be dating?"_

_"No!"_

_"Why?"_

_"Because you're too young. Do you even know what it is?" Brutus questioned and Sal studied him thoughtfully for a moment._

_"No. What is it?"_

_"Erm... I'll tell you some other," Brutus offered, not really feeling like explaining it to a child, "what did you mean by masters?"_

_"You know the masters, the ones with control and then there's us," Sal told him darkly, "but we should be the masters. We're better than them, we're more powerful, more intelligent, more important, we're special, Brutus. The masters fear us, they fear our power, they fear what we're capable of. Or at least they do Tommy. I'm just as good as Tommy. They just forget I exist half the time I think but they shouldn't. I hope they live long enough to regret it, I'll be a master someday and the world would do well to watch out."_

_"Okay well you do that, I'll go see how its going with Tommy."_

* * *

Albus and Michael stopped speaking. At lessons they didn't sit in the vicinity of each other. At Quidditch practice Michael didn't use the _Cloudcutter_. At meals they deliberately sat away from each other with a clump of other students in between, it was extremely awkward having to choose who to sit with and even more awkward for Scorpius having to tell the others when they asked what was going on. They had to pick who to sit with which earned them dark or hurt looks from whoever they _didn't_ sit with, it was frustrating. Scorpius sat with Michael for the first two meals and Albus at dinner to try convince him to apologize which he steadfastly refused to do.

"I don't see why I should apologize," Albus complained loudly on the way back to the dormitories from dinner, "make him apologize for stabbing me in the back and taking my position and girl, oh and for calling me an asshole then I'll_ think_ about forgiving him."

Scorpius would have been dreading the dawn if not for having planned an Acutus session with Maurice and Orous for after classes, having History of Magic first thing didn't help any. Not only was it boring but Michael had started sitting next to Rose instead of him in it, Michael had started sitting next to Rose in any classes that they shared with Ravenclaws in fact. In Potions after it Michael sat with him though while Albus sat with the girls again, it was only at the end of the lesson that their was an unexpected visitor.

"Here are the ingredients you said you ran out of," Calderon voice spoke and Scorpius' head shot up so fast that his neck hurt but sure enough, there was the former assistant with his leggy puppy by his side. He was dressed in what he seemed to wear those days, a black cloak with a silver trim over his muggle sweater and jeans, up close he realized the silver fastenings were two serpents and it looked old. He still wore the silver dragon necklace that Scorpius had gotten him too, he had a bit of stubble but was otherwise as Scorpius knew him, even if he looked particularly tired as he magically placed six spinning vials down on Vipera's desk, "teaching Polyjuice Potion or something?"

"Well spotted but those ingredients are used in other potions, I'm not sure how I ran out so fast, some overenthusiastic sixth years I think," Vipera pointed out as she cast Calderon a sly salacious smile, "thank you, although you didn't have to bring it all the way over here yourself, Cal, looking for an excuse to see me?"

"_Cald-er-on_," Calderon corrected her irritably with a scowl but their conversation was cut short by the bell announcing the end of the class, Calderon quickly slipped away as Vipera dismissed the class.

"Can you pack up my stuff?" Scorpius asked Michael and didn't wait for an answer as he bolted to go after Calderon, "Calderon!"

"Hey Scor," Calderon greeted him brightly as Scorpius reached him, waves of light were now surrounding the assistant and dancing as they started walking, the dog chased the lights excitedly. Calderon gave the shrill high-pitched laugh that Scorpius had actually missed, he grinned and Scorpius returned the smile even though he had no idea what was amusing to him, "you know its funny, people used to call me crazy for the lights and since I got stuck being Acting Headmaster they just ignore it or pretend like its completely normal."

"I guess they respect you now."

"Respect or sucking up because they want something, people are bizarre," Calderon said shaking his head and Scorpius tensed, he had wanted something after all and Calderon seemed to notice, "what can I do for you then?"

"Well um... its just... just I've been having problems with a teacher."

"Let me guess, this teacher's name is Grant?"

"Yes. How did you know?" Scorpius wondered in surprise.

"I didn't, I guessed. He asked me to expel you so... if he has a problem with you and you have a problem with one of the teachers, it seemed like he would probably be the one who it was. Him or Vipera because she is just weird," Calderon explained, "so tell me about it."

Scorpius launched into a explanation about Grant's treatment of him and Michael as they walked, only pausing when they reached the Gargoyle leading to the Headmaster's office so Calderon could give the password - which was 'dragons' - but resumed speaking as they started climbing only to stop again when he saw the room. He was aware it was where his grandfather had lost his soul but the difference in appearance distracted him from it, last year the portraits had been turned to face the wall but now he could see the faces of all the previous Headmasters and Headmistresses of Hogwarts, although most of them seemed to be asleep.

There was a dog's bed by the headmaster's desk that the dog immediately went to lie down on as Calderon approached the desk with Scorpius in tow, his eyes were drawn to the largest portraits either side of the Headmaster's chair. One he recognized from the attack at the memorial, although this Dumbledore was noticeably more healthy in appearance, he was smiling kindly and his eyes were a normal blue that seemed to sparkle behind his half-moon spectacles. The other was a younger man who was scowling at them, he had a hooked nose and shoulder length black hair. Scorpius wasn't sure but he thought the man might be Severus Snape, Albus' other namesake.

"When do you next have Charms?" Calderon asked shaking him from his thoughts.

"Err... next thing," Scorpius answered.

"I'll talk to him now then and if he doesn't back off next lesson then tell me after classes, I'll have to take more serious action."

"Okay. Thanks Calderon," Scorpius said gratefully and smiled but the former assistant looked worried.

"Does Michael really have that much of a hard time with his Dyslexia?"

"Its real, he wouldn't make it-"

"I believe him about it," Calderon interrupted holding up his hand to silence him, the Tiwaz scar very visible on the palm, "I'm asking whether it really effects his work that much, whether he would benefit from some help... I may not have _wanted_ to be Acting Headmaster - thanks a lot Ticcy - but I still have to do what I think is right, if Michael's really struggling because of his Dyslexia then I should do something to help."

"Oh um... I don't know, you'd have to ask him," Scorpius shrugged it off awkwardly, wondering if he was a bad friend for not paying too much attention to Michael's writing. Calderon nodded, glanced around the room before he started to head to the exit again, the dog and Scorpius both scrambling to keep up, "Calderon, wait."

"What?" Calderon asked as he stopped in the corridor and Scorpius stared at his feet stupidly.

"Do... Do you have to go now? I mean I know your busy but I... I miss you, I miss being your assistant and talking to you and... I know you're busy now but..." Scorpius trailed off uncertainly, realizing how stupid it was to ask for Calderon to prolong their conversation because he missed seeing him.

"Look, Scor, I'd love to talk to you but if I need to talk to Grant before your next lesson and lunch isn't that long," Calderon pointed out and Scorpius nodded glumly, "but why... why won't you come see me some time this weekend? And we can catch up? How does that sound?"

"Good," Scorpius said brightening up and smiling as he started to walk away, "see you then."

Scorpius' good mood lasted even after he had to sit down with only Michael, the girls and Albus sitting on the other side of a clump of students. Molly, Maurice and Corin joined them though, Scorpius wasn't sure whether they had noticed the rift or not or whether they simply didn't care. He didn't tell Michael about talking to Calderon about Grant in case it didn't work but for the first time in a long time he was looking forward to a Charms lesson.

There was nothing out of the ordinary at first, Grant was cheerfully talking about the new spell to change the color of objects they were learning and having them take notes on it before the practical part of the lesson started. Scorpius succeeded effortlessly to change the feather he was trying to turn red and waited for Grant to approach him, he gave Scorpius the filthiest of looks before speaking.

"Not bad," Grant grunted out through gritted teeth, "try practicing it in different colors, its the same spell just the different Latin color name, page twenty-two if you don't know them. Sometimes its trickier with different colors, people are more adept at some than others and practice makes perfect."

"Okay," Scorpius agreed, it was infinitely better than being insulted. Grant glanced between him and Michael, looking like uttering the next words were killing him.

"I'm _sorry_ for not taking your claims of Dyslexia seriously and I'm _sorry_ if my unbiased professional opinion of either of your work upset your sensitive minds. I will try to be more constructive and less... abrasive in the future as the goal of Hogwarts is to encourage not discourage and I _apologize_ if my behavior seemed so out of line you went running to the only barely semi-sane Acting Headmaster. Good day."

Scorpius and Michael exchanged a look and Scorpius told him about talking to Calderon, Grant didn't chastise them for speaking, he didn't chastise them for anything in fact. He seemed to try to avoid them unless he happened to be near them for speaking to other students nearby them, he only reluctantly offered helpful advice to Michael instead of putting him down for struggling with the spell and seemed to force himself to utter the slightest acknowledgement of praise for Scorpius' success. He still didn't treat them in the friendly way he treated the other students that made him so popular but Scorpius considered it a win.

After classes he started to head outside to meet up with Maurice and Orous for their Acutus session, Orous' hair was drenched in ink that James had poured on him to make his hair 'normal' and it made Orous extremely focused to tearing apart the rocks. Afterwards they went back to the library to find their friends, Vern and Michael were there as expected but oddly enough Corin was not. Maurice looked at him in askance as he put his hand to his translator necklace and the trio joined the table.

"Where's the others?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"Abby was helping Corin with his Herbology in the greenhouses, Albus and Rose are with the flawless Devin Copper and his Ravenclaw buddies over there," Michael answered solemnly and nodded in the direction of the table with the cousins at it, Copper - Rose's crush - said something and they all laughed, Rose laughing the hardest of them all, "looks like they're having fun."

"Well good for them, if at least one of us could get with their crush then it would be an achievement."

"Yeah... as long as she's happy, that's what matters right?"

"Obviously."

Albus still didn't apologize the next day and Wednesday was as painful as Monday and Tuesday had been during lessons and mealtimes. At least they were halfway through the week, Scorpius was looking forward to his Patronus lesson for once and getting to talk to Calderon.

"Am I selfish?" Michael asked as they made their way to Quidditch practice after classes, including another bearable Charms lesson, "for not wanting to Quidditch because it bothers Al. I only tried out originally because he made it sound like it would make for a fun afternoon but I really like it, being on the team and flying and not feeling like I'm completely useless for once and not completely useless at a magical thing too. Sometimes I really feel like they made a mistake in thinking I'm a wizard when I struggle with spells and get all the magical things mixed up and everything but I can actually fly, I'm actually good at something for once... am I bad person for not wanting to give that up for Albus?"

"No. Albus is way out of line, don't feel bad," Scorpius told him and Michael nodded although still looked worried.

It was a cold day despite the lack of wind or rain, the clouds hid the sun but it was a good practice nonetheless. Even if Michael still refused to use the _Cloudcutter_ so was stuck on a school broom that veered particularly sharply to the left, in credit to his skill he managed to use this to his advantage when trying to score against Molly, as the broom veered to the left she veered to the left but Michael threw the Quaffle violently to the right and she changed direction just in time to brush it with her fingers as it went in. Michael laughed with delight at his triumph, lighting up his somewhat tired hazel eyes. Although after a month and a bit in Hogwarts he was still scrawny and thin but not so much that he looked unhealthy.

"This weekend is the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year so I figured you can have the day off, there is still practice on Sunday though and Friday morning as well as Friday afternoon to make up for it. It won't be a long practice in the morning but I still expect to get an hour in before classes so be there, you're doing great everyone," Molly announced as the practice came to an end, the older students - except Latimer - looked somewhat relieved to have their Hogsmeade trip unhindered by practice, especially Roxy and James as it would be their first ever trip for being third years. They started heading back to the castle, Michael going to put the school broom back first and Molly came to walk beside him while he waited for his friend, "Al and Michael still at odds?"

"Yep," Scorpius nodded.

"Al's got to get over it, James is bad enough without Al having his wand in a twist over Quidditch positions too."

"I know," Scorpius agreed with a sigh and Molly looked thoughtful for a moment.

"You know that this is the first Hogsmeade weekend, right?"

"I know but I'm not old enough to go yet so it doesn't really effect me, except that the castle is emptier."

"I know that's why I was wondering if I could hang out with you on Saturday?" Molly asked and Scorpius felt his heart lurch, was he dreaming? "I don't really feel like going to Hogsmeade and hanging out by myself, plus I have a ton of homework and I always enjoyed doing homework with you late last year, company makes the endless amount of essays bearable."

"Yes! I mean yeah I think that too," Scorpius lied, in truth he had no problem with his work and enjoyed getting on with it alone or with people but Molly _wanted_ to spend time with him! He thought his heart might explode with excitement it was beating so fast and he was trying very hard not to let his face be split in half by his smile as he didn't want to seem too eager but then if he didn't smile enough she might think he wasn't really okay with it, he tried to go for something in the middle and was sure his smile came off demented in the end, "it'll be fun to hang out. This weekend. Together."

"Great," Molly grinned perfectly, she had no trouble smiling before Michael came back over to them and they headed back the castle.

Scorpius couldn't wait for the weekend, on Friday he would finally overcome his Patronus problem, he could see Calderon on Sunday as he hadn't specified a day or time and then hang out with Molly on Saturday. Because Molly had wanted to spend time with on Saturday, not Nick, not anyone else but him. Maybe his fantasy relationship with her wasn't completely hopeless after all. He didn't let the potentially Shadow Aurors get him down and he didn't let the rift between his friends get him down, not even when he saw Albus talking to James did he let himself dwell on it. He was in a good mood and for once it was going to last more than one hour, that night was the first night in weeks that he didn't wake up shaking and soaked in sweat from dreams he couldn't remember.

He was feeling fully refreshed as he headed off to breakfast with Michael, Albus trailing along behind for not wanting to be around Michael but still wanting to get there early to watch Vipera eat. The harmony was shattered as they reached the end of the staircase, James flicked his wand and Michael was violently thrown off of his feet to land with a loud smack onto the ground.

"That's for stealing my brother's spot on the team!" James roared angrily as Michael struggled to get back to his feet, his legs shaking for having hit the stone so hard, "animals like you shouldn't even be allowed on the team, Dragon-breath."

"Hey! Leave him alone," Scorpius snapped immediately as he whipped out his wand.

"Oh yeah because I'm _so_ scared of you," James smirked and nodded to his friends behind him who took out their wands too, "six against two, right Al?"

"What?!" Albus squeaked frightfully, "just because I'm mad at Michael doesn't mean I want to help you attack him or Scor."

"Pick a side and stay on it!" James snapped but Albus just hurriedly slipped by them and left, James rolled his eyes, "eugh, brothers. Well five against two then."

"Very brave of you," Scorpius pointed out sarcastically without moving his wand off James, he knew he had promised not to use _Acuta_ but it would be a good spell for getting all of the bullies at once since they were outnumbered more than double... not he'd think of something else, "attacking two kids younger than you with a lot more people."

"Who two don't even make the classification of human let alone kids."

"Move along now!" a voice bellowed and all of them jumped in surprise at the Auror who had spoken, Albus had returned with a pair of them. They put away their wands quickly and started onwards towards breakfast, Michael saying he needed the bathroom and leaving in another direction.

"We'll finish this later," James snarled at them as he passed.

"S-Sorry about that," Albus muttered guiltily coming over to him, "he asked me what was up, I didn't know it would get him to attack you."

"I'm surprised you stopped it," Scorpius complained, not relieved in the slightest to be unable to duel James especially not because Albus had got potentially treacherous Aurors to step in, "you're more like James everyday."

"What?! No I'm not! I'm nothing like him."

"Mad at someone for getting the position they wanted, holding a grudge... sound familiar?"

"I-I never accused Michael of cheating!"

"No, you didn't. You did worse," Scorpius snapped, "I get that not getting the position is frustrating and you tried really hard but its not _his_ fault, its no one's fault, at the end of the day Michael - _and_ Latimer _and_ Caitlin _and_ Louis - were just the better fliers, in fact I would have picked Abby too before I picked you based on skill alone. It sucks that you didn't get it but life just sucks sometimes, you're supposed to be his friend, friends are supposed to support one another got get mad at them for succeeding. You have five years still to tryout and now you're allowed your broom - which Michael has completely stopped using by the way - you can practice, get better, failing one tryout is not the end of the world. Latimer tried out in his second year and failed to get it, he practiced hard and improved so when he tried out again this year and got it, people can bounce back from bad things especially if you're determined enough. What you really have to decide is whether one bad tryout is worth losing one - _two_ - friends over. Think about that."

Scorpius stalked off before Albus had a chance to reply, his good mood extinguished as they made it to breakfast. Albus looked unusually thoughtful but made no effort to apologize or even speak to Michael or even Scorpius during the meal or lunch or any of the lessons, Scorpius hoped he was just stubbornly taking his time rather than following in his brother's footsteps. The lessons took his mind off things at any rate as he focused on the work, History of Magic wasn't a lesson he didn't enjoy on Thursdays - except Astronomy in the night - so he was good.

"I want everyone to do their essay for the next lesson, no essay and no taking part in learning to duel," Professor Ashain told them as the double lesson came to an end, there was excited murmurings throughout the class and the Slytherin who usually forgot to raise his hand shot it in the air so fast and so hard that Scorpius was half-surprised the boy didn't dislocate it.

"We're learning to duel!?" the Slytherin burst out before Professor Ashain could call on him.

"Yes, learning defensive spells is useful but knowing how to use them should you ever be attacked is useful too. As long as you hand your essay in."

"One essay, two essay, you can have one for every day of the week if you're teaching us to duel!"

"Just the one will suffice," Professor Ashain offered as they filed out excitedly.

Scorpius was no exception, knowing how to duel properly was exactly something he needed to know to fight the Shadows or Shadow Aurors that attacked him. He would never be weak again. It was exactly the kind of thing that Varanian would want him to learn if he was too help. He and Michael headed back to the common room, Scorpius reeling off every fragment of information he knew about dueling as they walked.

"You can talk the talk but can you walk the walk?" James sneered as they neared the top of the Grand Staircase, Scorpius noted he was alone.

"We're not in the mood," Michael said irritably making a move to carry on walking.

"Scared, Malfoy? You're not outnumbered anymore."

"I have better things to do than waste my time on the likes of you," Scorpius bit back, which wasn't untrue as he wanted to work on that essay for Professor Ashain right away.

"I don't blame for you being afraid, I mean if you're scared of powerless muggles then a wizard such as myself must be terrifying," James mocked and Scorpius froze on the step, "must be all you can do to not wet yourself and run to your room crying."

"Shut up! I'm not scared of you," Scorpius spat angrily spinning back round to face the smirking James.

"Oh right, just muggles. They had the right idea, locking you up like the monster you are."

"I said shut up!" Scorpius yelled drawing his wand and aiming it at James who had taken his own out while Scorpius had been drawing his, his wrist was burning with pain.

"Come on, calm down, let's not fight," Michael offered unhelpfully trying to step in between them while the other students gave them a wide berth.

"What's the matter?" James continued taunting as if Michael hadn't spoken, "does it bother you? Want to go home and cry to your grandaddy- oh wait, he's dead."

"_Expelliarmus!_" Scorpius cried before he realized he was speaking, Michael jumped back to avoid it but Scorpius had aimed too high to avoid him anyway. It hit a portrait and the thing fell of the wall.

"Pathetic!" James laughed and said a spell that Scorpius didn't recognize but he recognized its effect as it tripped him up, he would have to learn that one.

Scorpius quickly realized he didn't actually stand a chance against James, he didn't know half as many spells as James did to attack with and the ones he did use James seemed to just dodge or counter. The wall behind James was barren and the floor littered with the portraits that he kept hitting, James wasn't firing as many spells back at him - in favor of using his voice for taunts - but the ones he did just seemed to knock him back or trip him up, Scorpius had a feeling that James was just toying with him.

It made him so angry, failing to beat James and the taunts and Michael unhelpfully was just vainly saying words to try to get them to stop but at least he wasn't going to get a teacher or worse, an Auror. He wanted to beat James, he didn't want to fail, he didn't want to be weak. _You could beat him_, his mind taunted,_ stop holding back_. He knew some dangerous magic, he wasn't good at the lightning spell Maurice was teaching but that would shut James up, so would the fire one - he'd like to see James dodge that - but that was maybe a bit far, even for James. The Acutus curse hovered on the edge of his mind, he'd promised Michael he wouldn't use it but- his thoughts were cut off as James hit him with the tripping spell again, his knees were already throbbing from repeatedly colliding with the painfully hard stone steps.

"You gonna tired yet? Gonna cry and beg me to stop? Did you say that to the muggles?" James taunted as Scorpius got to his feet, fury replaced conscious thought, he wanted to hit James again and smash his face until he couldn't speak anymore...

"_ACUTA!_" Scorpius yelled angrily and violently swiped his wand through the air, filling the spell with the force of the frustration James was causing him. James deserved it. He'd crossed a line. Maurice was right. For the first time during the duel James' eyes bulged in fear and he ducked barely in time to dodge the horizontal spell, it instead struck the blank stretch of wall leaving a nasty scorched crack in the stone. The staircase started to move with the three of them stuck on it, _he won't be able to dodge a vertical one_, his mind told him coldly, "_Acuta!_"

"No!"

It happened too fast for Scorpius to stop it, Michael jumped protectively in front of James as he slashed the wand vertically. It was too late to take it back, for the briefest of seconds he met Michael's bright hazel eyes before the spell struck his friend's face. Michael cried out in pain and was knocked back, he collapsed on the steps against the bannister clutching at the right side of his face. All thoughts of his anger, of the duel left his mind, his wand clattered uselessly to the ground and he ran to Michael. He fell to his knees besides his friend, blood was oozing from inbetween Michael's fingers.

"Are-Are you okay?" Scorpius asked stupidly and guiltily.

"I need something to put pressure on the wound," Michael said in a strained voice, his left eye squeezed shut as if in pain the other covered by his hand, "until I get to the hospital wing."

"Hey! Its just a stupid scratch, stand back up and duel me," James barked irritably.

"No," Scorpius shook his head firmly, he had to get Michael to the hospital wing and something to put pressure, he searched his pockets for something cloth-like.

"Oh please, we learned a healing spell in Charms. I'll fix him up and then we can finish our duel," James complained and memories clicked in Scorpius' mind, the Acutus Curse couldn't be healed and trying just made it worse...

"No! It'll make it worse!" Scorpius cried almost at the same time Michael did.

Scorpius made a grab for James' wand but James was too far away for him to reach, the bully snorted with disbelief before casting the spell and Scorpius' grab fell way short. He didn't see the spell hit Michael but from his friend's howls of pain behind him, he knew James' spell had hit. Scorpius snatched his wand from the ground while James backed away and fled as the staircase reconnected, he glanced back to see Michael lying on the steps with blood flowing more freely from his now crimson fingers, tears mingling with the red.


	20. II: The Consequences

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

_**Questions:** _

**_Is Michael gonna be ok?/How the hell are the staff gonna react to this?/Is James gonna get his head out of his ass?_**  
_Answers in the chapter_

**_Does Calderon find Dumbledore a pleasant conversation?_**  
_Mostly yes although he always feels guilty talking to Dumbledore because his father was the one who ordered Dumbledore killed and then his sister used Dumbledore's body at the memorial_

* * *

Scorpius frantically took out a quill he'd had in his pocket and transfigured it crudely in a piece of fabric, it wasn't his best work but it was a tricky spell and they hadn't actually started the practical in class yet but he hoped it was good enough to put pressure on it like Michael needed.

"Will this do?" Scorpius asked fearfully and Michael's left eye flicked open to see the fabric.

"G-Give it," Michael croaked and reached out for it as he struggled to sit up, the part of his face not covered by his hand was screwed up in pain and his breathing was uneven.

He removed his right hand from the right side of his face for the first time and Scorpius glimpsed the jagged vertical wound running from his forehead to his cheek, going straight through the bloody mess that was his right eye. Scorpius felt sick, had he really done that? Michael was trembling as he pressed the fabric against the injury and yelped in pain.

"What?!" Scorpius burst out desperately and - not for the first time - wished he knew more about injuries.

"I-Its just really painful, o-okay?" Michael told him in a strained tone, squeezing his good eye shut again and leaning back against the stone bannister, "need to... need to get to the hospital wing, my eye..."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded and helped Michael to his feet, Michael was still shaking and leaned against him for support as they headed off to the hospital wing at a staggering walk, Scorpius guiding their way with Michael pressing the now red fabric against his face and breathing jerkily through whatever pain he was in, "so... so its not as bad as it looks, right?"

"I haven't seen how it looks," Michael pointed out weakly.

"I'm sorry-"

"Don't bother apologizing."

"But I am sorry, I didn't mean to hurt-"

"Not now! Too busy not passing out from pain," Michael snapped and Scorpius shut up immediately and tried to pick up the pace for the final stretch to the hospital wing.

"Help, over here!" Scorpius called out as they arrived, the snow-haired head healer rushed over and got Michael onto one of the empty beds - all were empty except one in the corner where he knew Elwood was, "don't try to heal it magically, he got hit by the Acutus Curse and someone already tried it and made it worse."

"Merlin's beard, why was a first year messing around with magic like that?!" the healer burst out incredulously.

"Second year," Michael moaned as the healer bustled around him as pulled back the blood-soaked piece of fabric, Michael's face looked even worse than it had before, the right side around the bleeding jagged wound was now swollen and beginning to bruise badly, his eye was too bloody to make out.

Scorpius looked away guiltily and sat down on the edge of the bed beside Michael, just letting the healers do their thing and hoping Michael would be okay. He thought Madam Pomfrey had a better bedside manner, the new guy cursed a lot and complained about the amount of work he was having to do. Scorpius decided he didn't like him very much but he hoped the man was at least competent enough to help Michael.

"Alright, that's all I can do," the snowy-haired healer announced.

Scorpius glanced back to see he must have been stitching the wound, he seemed to have given Michael the potion to reduce swelling that they'd learned in first year - or some other better kind possibly - as his face no longer looked swollen. The bruising remained though, as did the jagged recently stitched wound that still looked raw and painful but seemed to have stopped bleeding at least. Michael's right eye was no longer a bloody mess but he realized it was still bad, the eyelid was entirely purple from bruising and stitched up. At the healer's words, Michael seemed to try to open it and cringed in pain as he half managed it revealing a bloodshot eye but where the pupil and iris would be, there was a vertical wound in line with the stitched eyelid. The healer complained at this and started bandaging over the stitched wound, Scorpius noticed Michael's right hand was also bandaged.

"Why is his hand bandaged?" Scorpius wondered timidly.

"He had his hand on the main wound when the healing spell was cast," the healer answered without pausing, "when you try to magical heal an Acutus Curse wound it reacts badly, it makes the wound spread and if you have a hand over the wound say then it spreads to the hand. Its actually a good thing he did that, it took some of the edge off of the main wound. Lucky the healer was pretty incompetent too, if someone skilled had tried it then it would have killed the boy."

"Why?!"

"Because the better the healing the worse the magic will react, the wound worsens and deepens and spreads. The wound occurred on his face, if it went deep enough then it could have damaged the brain causing permanent brain damage or even death," the healer explained matter-of-factly as he finished bandaging Michael's face, leaving him looking like a kind of Phantom of the Opera, "its impossible to tell how much damage was done by the original spell and how much was caused by the healing but he got lucky, it could have been much worse."

"So its not so bad then?"

"I didn't say it wasn't bad but relatively speaking yes. I've already got the swelling down, the bruises should heal in a few days, the crack to the skull and damage to the facial muscles should heal nicely with no negative ramifications. There will be an incredibly nasty scar obviously, the hand will probably scar too but not half as badly as the face, I don't envy that. The worst part is the eye, the eyelid was completely torn in half but it should heal back together and in time it should function properly again. Of course he's lost all sight in that eye."

"Wh-What?" Michael stammered opening his non-bandaged eye and the healer jumped in surprise.

"Ah, I hadn't realized you were still conscious!" the healer exclaimed and chortled slightly, "but yes, completely blind in your right eye."

"Are you sure?" Michael asked, his voice breaking tearfully before good eye went back to being squeezed shut.

"A hundred percent, either the spell or the healing completely wrecked it."

"Do... Do you know which?" Scorpius wondered hopefully desperate that he wasn't the one to blind his friend.

"I already told you, no," the healer complained, "now I have to go get someone with more standing, its a very serious injury after all and I suspect the culprit will face expulsion."

"N-No!" Michael called out as the healer started to walk away and Scorpius felt his heartbeat quicken fearfully as the healer turned back, "there... there was no one, I c-cast the spell and accidentally injured myself and tried to heal myself. There's no one to get in trouble."

"We all know that's a lie," the healer pointed out before carrying on walking away.

"I'm sorry," Scorpius apologized again when they were alone as he realized when he left the hospital wing he very well might never get to speak to Michael again, "I never meant for you to get hurt."

"I told you not to bother apologizing. You _promised_ you wouldn't use that spell," Michael said mournfully as he flicked his one eye half-open to glance at him, "you can't apologize for breaking a promise."

"James deserved it. Why did you have to try to protect him?"

"Because it was the right thing to do. Didn't you notice the staircase was moving? When you practice the spell it knocked the sticks and stones backwards, you could have knocked James backwards, he would have fallen to his death. James isn't a nice person but that doesn't mean he deserves to die, he doesn't deserve to be scarred and blinded in one eye either..." Michael explained and Scorpius realized he hadn't actually thought of that, "and I wasn't just trying to protect him, actions have consequences and I didn't want you to end up in wizard jail for killing him."

"I didn't think about the staircase thing," Scorpius admitted quietly.

"Doesn't matter anyway. What's done is done. We made our choices and we just have to deal with the consequences now," Michael whispered tearfully as he closed his one eye again and Scorpius could only nod sadly.

"I really am sorry, you know."

"It's l-like Bob says, the part of brain supposed to t-take a hint isn't wired together properly. I j-jumped in front of a c-curse I knew was d-dangerous, I'm j-just as much to bl-blame f-f-for l-losing m-my eye."

* * *

_Brutus left the basement, magically sealing the door behind him. Rabastan Lestrange was sitting in a chair opposite, leaning against the wall and leafing through a book before he noticed Brutus and lowered it to speak to him. He and Rabastan were far from friends but as far as Death Eaters went, he was alright. Nothing like his brother at all. He shared Brutus' sympathy with the twins situation at least, after being charged with teaching them to read. The dusk light was filtering in through the dark drawn drapes in the kitchen and the only other person in the room was also reading._

_Narcissa Malfoy was sitting at the table - from which Rabastan had taken to sit on - sipping a cup of tea and going through the evening edition of the Daily Prophet, she gave no indication of having noticed him coming up. Not that he expected her too, it didn't take a genius to realize she didn't like sharing her house with Death Eaters even though they'd be moving the twins to a new location the following week because the Malfoy child would be returning for the summer holidays. She seemed indifferent to the treatment of the twins as well which he didn't like, they were her own flesh and blood niece and nephew after all regardless of who the other parent was, the twins were her family and she didn't care. If he ever had a niece or nephew he would treat them better. Although he would admit he preferred Narcissa to her sister, Bellatrix was just... disturbing._

_"Something wrong, Ashain?" Rabastan questioned with a raised eyebrow._

_"Rodolphus is just taking a long time with Tommy," Brutus grunted and tried not to look concerned._

_"Just follow the sounds of the screams," Narcissa commented icily without looking up and almost on cue a high-pitched pierced the air coming from upstairs._

_Brutus inclined his head in acknowledgement and headed upstairs, the screams getting louder as he went higher. He didn't need to follow the sound as he got to the corridor, the yellow glow from the furthest door was a good indication of Tommy, his outbursts of magic were becoming more frequent rather than less as you would typically expect. Then again, Tommy wasn't a typical person. He thought it would probably be just Tommy and Rodolphus in the room, Lucius was probably still preparing for some prophecy thing that the Dark Lord was after. A waste of time in Brutus' opinion, any kind of Divination was a useless waste of time that panned out to nothing._

_He peered into the room and was proven correct, Rodolphus was standing over Tommy's crumpled body with his wand aimed at the boy. The wand Tommy was probably supposed to be using was lying uselessly a few feet away from him, there was just misty waves of light clogging the air and a few inches of water covering the floor but seemed confined to the room despite the open door - no doubt a result of Tommy's accidental magic. Rodolphus gave a sadistic smile as he waved his wand once more at the boy._

_"Crucio!" Rodolphus cried and Tommy's scream was unbearable as his body writhed under the curse._

_"Stop!" Brutus barked and Rodolphus was so surprised by his appearance that he did indeed stop, Brutus had his own wand in his hand in readiness in case Rodolphus tried to stop him as he waded through the murky water to Tommy and hauled the trembling boy to his feet, "that's enough for today, you're not even letting him try to use magic."_

_"I'm punishing him for his failure and doing all this," Rodolphus explained darkly looking furious as he gestured to the misty lights and water, Tommy collapsed against Brutus' weakly and he had to support him with his non-wand arm to stop him from falling onto the ground, "and who are you to question me anyway?"_

_"He's had enough for one day, you'll kill him if you keep it up," Brutus answered firmly as his eyes danced on Rodolphus' wand that was hovering precariously close to being aimed on him, he wasn't sure how he'd do in a duel with the Death Eater as Rodolphus was supposedly skilled and a killer to boot. Then again, Brutus had only ever lost a duel to Pip Varanian and even then he had won as much as he'd lost, if not more, "the Dark Lord wants him trained not killed. I'm supposed to guard them, I wouldn't put it past him to kill us both in retaliation for killing him so lay off him for today, he can barely stand. You have all of tomorrow."_

_"Th-Thank you," Tommy croaked weakly and coughed droplets of red onto his robes._

_"Why is he coughing up blood?"_

_"Is he?" Rodolphus wondered and his anger wavered, as if to prove the point Tommy coughed up more, "alright he's had enough for today. Heal him."_

_"What? I don't know how to do that, I don't even know what's wrong."_

_"Well then take him to St Mungo's, get someone to heal him and then kill them," Rodolphus commanded as his confidence returned, "if he dies or gets found out then its on you."_

_Brutus grunted in understanding and apparated them both away before Rodolphus could change his mind, appearing in a deserted alleyway leading to the street with St Mungo's. He pocketed his wand once more, pulled his hood over his head, pulled Tommy's sleeve down and scooped up Tommy, the boy was incredibly light and seemed to have lost consciousness at that point anyway. He carried him into the hospital and started to wish he hadn't gone looking for Tommy, Rodolphus had pawned him off on specifically with the intention of blaming everything on him should anything happen. He tried not to worry about it as he went into the hospital, there was a queue to the Welcome Witch so he just approached a random healer._

_"I need help, I don't know what happened to him, I just found him like this," Brutus said to her, "its an emergency, I have money if you could make him a priority and give him a private room."_

_He for a second he wasn't sure she would do it but she eyed Tommy with kind sympathetic eyes before glancing at his face, a flicker of disgust crossing the amber orbs but he was unfortunately used to it by then. She led them into a private room and he laid Tommy down on the bed, wondering if he'd ever gotten to lie in a proper bed before. The healer introduced herself as Avlyn McCallister and asked him about what had happened, in all truth Brutus didn't know, he didn't know - or want to know - about the torturous training. He did edge closer to the door as she examined Tommy though, waiting for her to notice the Dark Mark carved into his arm. Sure enough, her eyes widened in shock and she opened her mouth to cry out but his wand aimed at her face silenced her._

_"His mother's insane, now just heal him. He's just a child, he never hurt anyone," Brutus told her trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible although he knew it wasn't quite true, Tommy had to have done something to taint his soul._

_"H-His ribs are broken, I think one of them pierced his lung and he's seriously underweight, he needs-"_

_"I don't care what's wrong with him, I care that he gets healed. Fast," Brutus interrupted her explanation, afraid of someone bursting in at that very moment._

_His heart was pounding, he was actually starting to wonder if his heart had somehow moved up to his brain because it sounded like it was beating against the inside of his skull. Actually it wouldn't surprise him if it was considering his deformity. He managed to keep his expression blank, although even if his fear showed on his face the healer probably wouldn't be able to tell. He tried very hard not to fidget as she worked on Tommy, it probably wouldn't seem very threatening and if she wasn't threatened then she wouldn't help. It was hard though, his mind kept trying to cycle through scenarios when she'd somehow alerted people to his presence and Aurors would be on the way there and Atticus would show up..._

_"Okay, done," the healer announced and he realized that her face was streaked with tears as Tommy started to stir, it took him a second to realize why, "pl-please don't kill me, I did what you wanted."_

_"How are feeling, Tommy?" Brutus asked his charge gently as Tommy sat up, his eyes darted wildly around as if trying to take it every part of the room at once._

_"Not in pain. Where are we?" Tommy wondered in amazement._

_"St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies, we-"_

_"Is that a person? A person whose not a Death Eater?" Tommy interrupted gazing at the healer awestruck, he started glowing golden, "why is she crying?"_

_"Yes, she healed you. Come on, we have to go," Brutus told him as he kept his eyes trained on the healer as he recalled he was indeed supposed to kill her._

_"Pl-Please don't kill me," the healer pleaded again as if realizing what was on his mind and Brutus swallowed nervously, "please, I-I have a husband and a son, he's j-just a little baby. Its his first birthday next month and-"_

_"Shut up!" Brutus barked and the woman fell silent, tears continued to fall and Tommy's glow died as he looked fearfully between him and the healer. Hearing her begging for her life was just making it harder, he didn't even know her blood status - and he didn't want to know, if she wasn't a mudblood then it would just make it even harder. It was easy. It should be easy. One spell. He knew the words. He just had to get it over with it, the quicker it was the more painless it would be, for everyone._

_His wand quivered in his hand, she had a family and actually gave a damn about her son, that was a rarity. It meant she probably wasn't a mudblood, mudbloods were the ones who gave up their children the same day they were born because they were heartless and incapable of feeling. Brutus fought the tears stinging his eyes, he had to do it, he had to kill her, he had to. Even if she'd just took him to a private room to help a child out of the goodness of her heart, she wouldn't have if she'd had any idea he was the son of Voldemort. Even if it left the son motherless... would the boy be as upset about it as Atticus had been when he'd lost his mother? He shoved the thoughts angrily aside. He didn't have a choice, he had to kill her, he knew he would have to kill at some point. He blinked at the sobbing woman who had taken a photograph out of her pocket to stare at, she kept a picture of her family just like he did? It didn't matter. He had no choice, Ashain lives came first, well except his grandparents. He swallowed the lump in his throat and waved his wand, a spell leaving his lips._

* * *

It wasn't too long before the healer returned with a professor, Grant with James in tow, James had evidently gone to Grant after the duel. Scorpius couldn't bring himself to say goodbye to Michael in case it really was the last time he saw him, he wasn't even sure if Michael was still awake after Michael had cried he'd gone silent. Scorpius had tried speaking to him but got no reply, Michael either hadn't wanted to talk or had cried himself to sleep. He thought both were equally likely considering the circumstances, he said nothing as he went Grant to be brought to the Headmaster's office.

"You'll be expelled for this, you're a psycho and now everyone knows it too," James sneered triumphantly under his breath as they followed Grant, "Seeker is mine. And Chaser is Al's because its not like Dragon-breath can play half-blind. From_ your_ spell."

"Michael got injured, _protecting_ you," Scorpius pointed out incredulously, "how can you still talk like that about him?"

"Its not like I asked him to get in the way, clearly he has some kind of death wish and besides, I had a spell ready to block it. I didn't_ need_ his stupid help."

"You're unbelievable!"

"_Malfoy_, shut it!" Grant spat before adding in a more reasonable tone, "you be quiet yourself too, Mr Potter."

James went silent but continued to look smug at Scorpius' imminent expulsion, Scorpius found it hard to care. He didn't want to be expelled but then he knew he deserved it, the shards of guilt stabbed him every which way at his walked with his head hung low. He didn't lift his head again until he was in the Headmaster's office, expecting to see Calderon glowering at him angrily with things exploding behind him but Calderon wasn't there. Grant just told them to wait in silence as he took a seat to rest his injured but healing leg, they just stood and Scorpius lowered his head again.

"Where is the lunatic? My legs are getting tired," James complained after a while.

"He wanted to speak to Sanford and the healer first as well as your Head of House, wants you both to wait before he speaks to you," Grant informed them and didn't call James up on referring to Calderon as 'the lunatic.'

"Why does he have to speak to me? I already told you everything I know and Malfoy is the one who attacked Dra- that boy."

"Calderon prefers to hear things first hand. Besides, you'll probably be reprimanded for dueling."

"Me?!"

"Dueling classmates is against school rules, Mr Potter, you were both in the wrong before Sanford was injured. You won't be expelled like _Malfoy_ but you'll undoubtedly get detentions, probably lost a few points."

"That's not fair!"

"I'm sorry but those are the rules."

James looked irritable as they went back to waiting in silence, Grant looked like he was drifting off to sleep even. Scorpius was too immersed in guilt to care. It felt like a long time before Calderon returned with the dog on his heels, his was the most expressionless that Scorpius had ever seen him. He sat down in the Headmaster's chair and Scorpius lowered his head again, he couldn't bring himself to look into the eyes of his hero when he knew he had done something so wrong to someone he cared about.

"You're going to tell me what happened from the start. No one is to interrupt the person speaking," Calderon said in a quiet neutral tone that demanded obedience, "Potter, you can start."

James launched into his account, he made it sound like Scorpius was the instigator and missed out the fact he was taunting him. Apparently Michael also hadn't been defending James, he'd been praising James' dueling ability and Scorpius had become enraged and viciously attacked his friend, James had also tried to heal him out of kindness for a fellow student and Michael had claimed it would work. Calderon asked him a few questions when James was done, questions that made it sound like he was very aware of the inaccuracies in James' account but James didn't seem to notice. Then it was Scorpius' turn. He didn't lie and he didn't leave anything out, he wasn't going to lower his opinion of himself anymore by lying to Calderon. Whatever would happen would happen, it was out of his hands. Calderon didn't ask him any questions when he was finished.

"Okay, I've heard enough to make my decision," Calderon began when Scorpius was finished, his tone still incredibly neutral and quiet, not like Calderon at all, "firstly, you're both to lose a hundred points from Gryffindor. Each."

"Each?!" James burst out as his jaw dropped and Calderon held up his scarred palm, Tiwaz flashed with fire although whether for dramatic effect or whether Calderon was just struggling to keep his magic in check for the conversation, Scorpius wasn't sure. James fell silent anyway.

"I have talked it over with your Head of House and he agrees its fair, you were both in the wrong and both will be punished accordingly. Essentially Michael was caught in the crossfire of the duel that the two of you were having, Scorpius was the one to cast the spell but you have your fair share of blame to bear, which is why as of this moment, you're both suspended from Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry."

"Suspended?! Y-You can't suspend me, I'm Harry Potter's son!"

"I don't care who your father is or what he's done, I care who you are and what you've done. And you helped scar and blind a twelve year old in one eye," Calderon continued darkly, "both of you return to your dormitories and pack whatever you wish to bring back home, owls have already been sent to your parents and someone will come and get you when they arrive. Go now."


	21. II: Suspension

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter, Winged-panther1 and SDF for reviewing! Also feel like I should thank Lucifersdaughter for pointing out the errors, I do go back and change them, I'm not ignoring you_

**_Questions:_**

**_So did James healing spell help then?_**  
_It made Michael's injury worse_

**_Are we going to see how James parents will react to it?_**  
_To a degree yes_

**_And will Calderon ever talk to Scorpius again?_**  
_Yep_

**_Will Harry or Ginny talk with Draco about this?_**  
_Yep_

**_How will Michael and Scorpius' friendship survive this?_**  
_Sorry but I can't answer that_

* * *

_They stalked out of the private room, Brutus kept an arm on Tommy's shoulder to guide the boy and stop him from running off or being distracted by the people. Tommy was wide-eyed with awe as his eyes continued darting round to every inch of the hospital as Brutus steered them towards the exit, his heart still beating frantically in shock over what he'd done but he tried not to think about it, he had to focus on getting Tommy back._

_"Why are there words written over these doors, Brutus?" Tommy asked with intense curiosity._

_"So people know which ward is which or directions to get the right one, like that one is for people with severe burns and that one is for people suffering from diseases like Dragon Pox," Brutus explained disinterestedly as he gestured to the two closest wards he'd used as examples._

_"What's that one for?"_

_"Isn't Rabastan teaching you to read?"_

_"Erm... Spell Dam-age... Damage. Spell Damage?"_

_"Very good."_

_"I like the sound of that one," Tommy spoke up excitedly as they made it back to the ground floor._

_"What one?" Brutus asked as Tommy gestured to a sign._

_"Calderon something."_

_"Cauldron Explosions, not Calderon."_

_"Oh. I still think Calderon sounds better..." Tommy pointed out before gasping, "Brutus! Those two people are trying to eat each other!"_

_"That's just kissing."_

_"Th-They're trying to suck each other souls out?! I thought only Dementors could do that?! Why is no one stopping them?!" Tommy wondered in horror and the couple kissing were abruptly thrown to opposite sides of the room, Brutus grabbed Tommy's arm to get him to the exit faster and finally they were out in the night._

_"They weren't sucking each other's souls out, its just a thing that people do that's not the same as what Dementors do."_

_"Oh. What purpose does it serve then? Is it some kind of torture or attack or magic?"_

_"No, its just... I'm not explaining it to you either but its not a bad thing," Brutus growled irritably._

_Tommy nodded in understanding and said nothing as he went back to taking in their surroundings, his eyes pinging to everything so quickly that Brutus was surprised he was able to take in anything at all. He didn't actually know where they were going as they walked through the muggle streets, he just wanted to clear his head and he didn't think Tommy would mind not going right back to his prison for a bit._

_He hadn't spent that much time in muggle streets, not much beyond getting to the entrance to places like St Mungo's or Platform Nine and Three Quarters. After he'd graduated Hogwarts his father had given him his mother's address, or rather the only address his father knew for her which was from her Hogwarts days. It had taken him months to work up the courage to go there and even then he hadn't gotten beyond standing in the street outside, it taken him years to bring himself to actually go knock on the door. He'd discovered all that time standing outside debating what he would say to the woman - if such filth could be called that - who'd abandoned him at birth had been a waste, the house was empty and deserted, it had been for years which he supposed explained the lack of life from the dilapidated place and the twisted overgrown weeds._

_There were no weeds there though, it was more like a deserted Diagon Alley at night when the street vendors had all packed away and the shops were mostly closed. Only instead of comforting cobblestones there was just blank stretches of ground and a huge gap in the middle for the multicolored metal boxes the muggles used for transport, some of them were just in the street just left there for no apparent reason but the street where his mother had lived was the same only with houses rather than shops. The stores were all selling stupid useless muggle things, even the clothes looking shops were all weird styles although Tommy looked particularly fascinated by a window with 'Discount Jeans for Sale! 30% Off!' but he pulled him away and kicked some piece of garbage that was lying in the empty street, he shivered as it suddenly seemed to get darker and colder but Tommy seemed unfazed but his expression darkened._

_"Don't be so amazed my muggle crap," Brutus chastised the boy._

_"Are you in a bad mood over what happened with that healer?" Tommy asked quietly._

_"Yes. I think I made a mistake, it was a moment of weakness."_

_"Valuing life isn't weak."_

_"Rodolphus told me to kill the healer and I didn't, if he ever finds out then its going to come back to bite me in the ass."_

_"He won't find out, you erased her memory so she can't tell him and I won't, I promise."_

_"Well thank you for that," Brutus offered although it didn't make him feel the slightest bit comforted. Then again, going back and finishing her off seemed an even less appealing choice._

_"I think you did the right thing," Tommy went on, "she must be a nice person if she helps people and isn't a Death Eater, she doesn't deserve to die. Its good you didn't kill her, Brutus."_

_"You realize that if she knew you were then she'd turn on you in an instant? Everyone would. She's not that good..."_

_"Then why didn't you kill her if you thought she was bad?"_

_"I don't think she was bad, I'm just telling you that you shouldn't think so highly of people. Just because they're not Death Eaters doesn't mean they're not bad, people have treated me like crap my whole life and most of those people weren't Death Eaters," Brutus told him and suppressed another shiver that Tommy seemed oblivious to, "don't be so quick to trust, just because I saved one woman doesn't mean you should view non-Death Eaters as good or it'll bite you in the ass."_

_"Then why did you save her?"_

_"Because I wish I was as heartless as people assume," Brutus sighed and brought them to a halt, "come on, I have to take you back before anyone gets suspicious. If anyone asks I apparated us to a graveyard, transfigured the healer into a bone and buried her."_

_"Okay," Tommy nodded as Brutus apparated them back to Malfoy Manor, Tommy staggered away from him and retched but nothing came out, he probably had nothing to spit up for lack of food, "do you ever get used to being apparated?"_

_"Eventually," Brutus offered as he opened the door to the basement, the magical enchantments were oddly enough missing, "why-"_

_"Rodolphus came for the girl, no point having enchantments for an empty room," Narcissa answered before he could even finish his question. Brutus sighed, suddenly wishing he'd taken longer._

_"Hello Aunt Narcissa," Tommy greeted her nervously but her blue eyes remained cold towards him._

_"Never call me that again," Narcissa told him firmly and a look of hurt crossed his face._

_"That's what Mother-" Tommy began but was silenced mid-sentence by Sal's scream, Brutus tried to usher him into the basement before he could freak out magically but it was too late, "not my sister... NO!"_

_Tommy's cry of 'no' was so high-pitched that Brutus flinched at the irritation it caused his ears, ____Narcissa's empty cup and saucer exploded and tore through the paper she'd still been reading, Tommy himself seemed to dig his nails into his filthy hair as he squeezed his eyes shut. E_xplosions echoed all around them as every glass and piece of ceramic in the kitchen shattered explosively, scattering shards across the counters, cupboards vomited up the small triangles of glass mixed with ceramic. The windows cracked and burst outwards, the drapes billowing as a ferocious howling wind battered through them to get into the house, the floorboards curled upwards at the edges.

_Brutus actually started to feel a little afraid. The light fixtures were ripped from the ceiling and Narcissa had to jump up to avoid one as it smashed through the kitchen table, it left them in the shadows of the dark dusk. He shivered violently at the cold and then he saw Sal was now scrambling to her feet fearfully in front of him, how had she got there? He hadn't heard a pop signifying apparation, it must have been lost in the noise of the wind. Tommy's magic didn't stop though, the house started shaking like an earthquake. Displacing anything that hadn't been destroyed, Narcissa was knocked off her feet and Brutus had to lean against a wall to stay stable while Sal was slammed against him. Tommy stood firm in the heart of the chaos._

_"Do something!" Narcissa shrieked at him over the roaring wind, "before he destroys everything!"_

_Brutus made a dive for Tommy and apparated them both outside, unwittingly taking Sal too as she'd been forced against him by the quake. He opened his mouth to tell Tommy to calm down but was flung backwards along with Sal, Tommy lay on the grass clutching his head. The ground had stopped shaking but the wind continued, whipping them with so much force it physically hurt.  
_

_"Its okay Tommy!" Brutus called to him, "Sal's okay! Stop! Its okay."  
_

_Tommy's dark eyes flicked open to meet his for a moment before darting to Sal, he was breathing heavily and seemed to squeeze his hands more into his head but the wind started to die down until there was nothing left but the silent dusk. Brutus shakily got his feet, his whole body was aching painfully. He helped Sal to her feet before going over to help up Tommy, tears squirting from his eyes as he started to sob uncontrollably.  
_

_"I'm sorry," Tommy whimpered, "I'm so sorry."_

* * *

Scorpius walked numbly back to Gryffindor Tower, James complaining loudly about unfairly getting suspended for no reason and that Calderon was completely insane or biased or both. Scorpius just didn't say anything, considering he'd gone into the Headmaster's office expecting to be expelled, suspension was actually an improvement. Not that it mattered, Michael had gotten the worst punishment despite having done nothing. They lost a few weeks of school, Michael lost his eye forever.

He was glad to not see his friends as he went to the dormitory, he didn't think he could face them at that moment, he didn't even know if they knew or not. He wasn't actually sure how long they were being suspended for and he did have clothes at home so he was sparing of what he packed, his took the Thestral gloves Molly had given him for sentimental reasons rather than for Quidditch as he certainly wasn't taking his broom. He wondered if they'd be back before the match in November or if Molly would have to replace them or if they'd even be allowed on the team at all, serious offenses usually lost you the privilege but then considering Calderon's lack of interest in Quidditch he probably wouldn't think of it as a punishment.

Then again, would Molly want him on the team after what he'd done to Michael? Would she even still be friends with him? Would Michael? Would any of them? Calderon would barely look at him and he was so disgusted with himself that he didn't want to look at himself either, why would his friends or Professor Ashain want to? What would his parents think?

He supposed he'd find out soon enough and went back to packing, he couldn't blame them for thinking the worst, he didn't deserve friends if all he did was hurt them. He froze in the middle of packing photographs when he got to the picture of his friends after the pillow fight in the first year. Michael was in it. He was smiling with his flawless face, he had rather soft delicate features and identical hazel eyes looked back at him happily as he tossed the handful of feathers into the air. The image was quickly overlapped by the memory of Michael's present condition, the jagged stitched wound and the grotesque eye that would never see again.

And Scorpius had done that to him.

He was crying before he realized it, he buried his face in his hands and threw himself down on the bed as he sobbed. Guilt stained memories swept through his mind, his own voice promising Michael against using the spell and his voice breaking it, Michael's howls of pain. _You're a monster_, his mind taunted him and he didn't disagree, he'd give anything to take it back. His wrist was burning and he started to spare it a glance only to see the friendship bracelet that Michael had given to him, he cried harder.

"Malfoy?" a voice questioned.

"Go away!" Scorpius shouted through his tears without looking up to see who it was, he just wanted to be alone.

"Your father is here now, you have to go," the person told him and Scorpius realized it was one of his roommates as he'd thought but an adult's voice who he knew well.

He sat upright immediately and a glance confirmed it was Grant, his look filled with loathing. Scorpius hastily wiped his eyes even though it was already far too late to hide the fact he'd been crying from his most hated professor, he stuffed the pictures into his bag quickly but it made him catch sight of Jack's letter. He shoved that into the bag too, not wanting to leave it in case it was found and the information on Varanian's in-laws fell into the Shadow Auror's hands. Maybe it was paranoid but he didn't want to take any chances, he didn't want to be responsible for another disaster. He walked in silence with Grant back to the Headmaster's office, before they'd even entered the room he could hear shouting.

"- He still has one perfectly good eye and Malfoy was the one who injured him anyway!" James was trying to protest over a woman hollering.

"That doesn't make it any better!" the woman was yelling back, "so I suppose its alright that Neville has only one arm?! Or Uncle George only one ear?! The poor boy is only twelve! What were you doing picking fights with children younger than you?! Your father and I raised you better than that, James Sirius Potter!"

The woman didn't stop yelling as they entered, Scorpius saw that as expected it was James' mother, Mrs Potter looking ready to explode with fury while James listened with an irate look. He cast Scorpius an accusing glare which his mother quickly admonished him for as he should 'pay attention when you're being yelled at!' He saw that both his father and James' were there as well, his mother was absent which he took to mean she was staying behind with his grandmother. Oddly enough though, his father and Harry Potter were in conversation with each other when they entered, Calderon looked close enough to be part of their conversation too but he hadn't been speaking but rather staring out the window where a raging storm could be seen. The men stopped their conversation when they arrived though, their expressions were identically unreadable for two who were by all accounts drastically different and not on the best of terms.

Scorpius walked mutely over to them, hoping his eyes were no longer red from crying but he had a feeling that they were. He waited for someone to say something, waited for his father to explode with anger but neither said anything. On the contrary, Potter simply went over to his wife and son to tell them that it was time to go and they'd talk more about it when they were home. James looked somewhat relieved at the reprieve in being yelled at although it vanished under his father's disapproving glare, Mrs Potter looked irked at having been interrupted and was the first to Floo back.

"Aren't you going to yell at me?" Scorpius asked his father.

"Yeah! Yell at him!" James snapped irritably and was immediately chastised by Potter who got his son to go next.

"No, I'm not," his father answered quietly as if James hadn't spoken and he exchanged the briefest of nods with the senior Potter before he Flooed away too, "especially not here."

Scorpius nodded in understanding, for the first time he was actually hoping to get yelled at because he knew he deserved it. His father led him back over to the fireplace and lectured him on how to Floo because it had been awhile since he'd last done it, deciding to go first to make sure Scorpius knew what to do. Scorpius almost protested to this before he realized that it gave him the smallest chance to speak to Calderon, Grant had long since left after all. His father took his bag and Flooed away and Scorpius looked back to the former assistant, Calderon was leaning on the desk with one hand and holding out the other, flexing his fingers as he stared intently at the window with his tired eyes.

"Calderon?" Scorpius questioned and Calderon flicked his dark orbs in his direction, "I'm sorry."

"I know," Calderon said quietly.

"Are you very mad at me?" Scorpius asked instead, biting his lips in dread for Calderon's anger but Calderon actually looked surprised at the question as he shook his head.

"No. Just disappointed. And sad."

Scorpius felt his heart twist painfully as tears threatened his eyes again, disappointment was worse than anger. Much worse. He hung his head and went for a handful of Floo powder, there was nothing else he could say. He had no defense for what he'd done, he'd been in the wrong and he knew it. He threw the powder and followed after his father, stepping out of the fireplace back in Malfoy Manor to find the three Malfoys all waiting for him.

"Oh sweetheart, were you crying?!" his grandmother burst out immediately and rushed over to him, pulling him into a hug and stroking his hair, "you poor, poor baby. You shouldn't be suspended for too long, that Calderon knows you after all."

"That wasn't why I was crying! I deserve to be punished, I hurt my friend, my_ friend,_" Scorpius pointed out miserably pulling away.

"I think you've been through enough to serve as punishment for a lifetime."

"He lost an eye, grandmother."

"You lost a lot more. I knew you weren't ready for school."

"No!" Scorpius yelled feeling suddenly angry, "don't use that as an excuse! I'm not ruined, I'm not damaged, I'm completely normal! I did something wrong and I was completely in control of myself and to blame, don't treat me like I wasn't, I-"

"Scorpius go to your room," his father interrupted and tossed him the bag, "just go to your room."

Scorpius stormed off to his room, the place he hadn't expected to be for another few months. He wasn't sure whether this was part of his punishment or his father just hadn't wanted to have that discussion, he hadn't wanted to say anything in case it was a punishment. He curled up on his bed, his tears resuming from where they'd left off and before he knew it he'd cried himself to sleep.

He only realized he'd been asleep because when he opened his eyes he was once more soaked in sweat as well as being in darkness from the late hour. There was a lantern lit beside his bed with a note under it in his mother's handwriting advising him that he had been saved some dinner in case he was hungry, he needed only ask a house-elf to heat it up for him if he woke up.

Scorpius wasn't hungry. He wasn't sleepy though either, he decided instead to pack away the things he'd brought with him for something to do. It was so silent without the snore's of his roommates, his room felt oddly empty. He couldn't help but wonder how things were back in Hogwarts, his friends probably knew by now about what had happened as his absence would have been noticed. He wondered whether Michael had had dinner in the Great Hall or the hospital wing or just not felt like eating at all considering his situation, he didn't know whether Michael would be back in the dormitory or still in the hospital wing either. Wherever he was, Scorpius hoped at the very least that he wasn't in pain from his injury, he'd suffered enough.

Scorpius was once again stopped as he came to the last thing in the bag - or rather the first but he'd just left it to come back to - which was the letter from Michael's dad. He didn't know whether Jack would be aware of what had happened to Michael or not or how he'd react, Michael's mother had probably been made aware of the situation but he wasn't sure on Jack. He didn't think Jack would have been told, Michael's parents weren't together after all and if Jack hadn't even known Michael was a wizard until recently then clearly Hogwarts hadn't kept him up to date before. Although he had been in jail. Still, Scorpius thought they'd only tell the parent that Michael lived with which was his mother meaning Jack was probably in the dark unless the mother had told him.

He blinked in surprise as something dawned on him and veered him away from debating things he couldn't know, what he _did_ know was where Varanian's in-laws lived and now he wasn't at Hogwarts anymore. There was nothing stopping him from trying to find them in order to find Varanian, it was all he had.


	22. II: Fathers and Sons

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, Aya Diefair, Guest, Lucifersdaughter and Pickl3lily for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Is Grant gonna move for Scorpius' expulsion?_**  
_Yeah, he's been badgering Calderon to expel Scorpius since James told him what happened and still is_

**_Will we get to see Varanian soon?/Does that mean Varanian?_**  
_Yep_

**_To questions about Michael getting a magical eye:_**  
_Maybe. It is a possibility (I do believe they'd probably have more sophisticated versions of Moody's and Malfoys/Potters/Hogwarts would be willing to pay the cost) but Michael does still have his eye even if it can't see anymore so they would have to remove it to get him a new eye which seems a big decision and is something you would need parental permission for anyway_

**_Did he get people's names wrong because of how he was or was that just pure Varanian?_**  
_It was pure Varanian, he's bad with names but good with faces although the Specter exaggerated the trait somewhat when possessing him_

**_Will James change at all when he comes back?_**  
_He won't be so eager to provoke confrontation as he knows he's on thin ice about his behavior but he will still hate Scorpius and Michael because he blames them for his unjustified (in his opinion) suspension_

* * *

_Brutus left his room, not bothering to make his bed or deal with the dirty laundry because he knew the creepy house-elves would have it done by the time he returned. His felt like he had grit stuck in his eyes from not sleeping, he'd been tossing and turning since news had hit about the entire Depart of Mysteries fiasco and of course, the official return of the Dark Lord. The Wizarding World was officially at war. He'd had a break from his Death Eater duties since the twins' birthday as he wasn't to be involved in moving them to the new location due to his brother's status as an Auror, Rodolphus had just wanted him away until things died down a bit and that day was the end of his vacation._

_He reached the kitchen - or one of them anyway - where he was surprised to see his brother already there, standing leaning against one of the counters sipping a mug of something hot. Brutus thought he'd probably just got in, he looked as tired as Brutus felt which bothered him. His usually neatly combed back hair was in disarray and even his clothes had a worn look to them, in fact Brutus was sure they were the same ones he'd been wearing the day before yesterday. Stupid Aurors were determined to push his brother when clearly Atticus couldn't handle it, he was very fragile and forcing him to the brink of exhaustion wouldn't help anyone. Despite being almost twenty-two, Atticus looked young for his age and was frequently asked if he actually was of age much to his immense frustration, Brutus had suggested growing a beard to look older._

_"Hey," Atticus greeted him with a tired smile, "sleep well?"_

_"Better than you I guess," Brutus grunted with a nonchalant shrug as he went to pour himself a drink while the kettle was still hot, "did you sleep at all?"_

_"No, was up all night working," Atticus told him shaking as his head as Brutus made himself some tea, "I only just got in."_

_"I figured. You look like crap."_

_"Thanks," Atticus offered sarcastically._

_"When are you back in?"_

_"Half-nine."_

_"That's like three hours away!" Brutus burst out incredulously, "can't they get someone else to work and give you a break? Someone more qualified?"_

_"I'm perfectly qualified!" Atticus snapped angrily and Brutus bit his tongue, that might have been the wrong thing to say, "I passed my training with flying colors and since I was one of the few who knew he was back before everyone did, I'm in higher standing with Mad-Eye and people, they trust me."_

_"I meant more experienced, you're only twenty-one."_

_"Nearly twenty-two! If they wanted someone more experienced then they would pick them."_

_Brutus opened his mouth to make a reply was distracted by the golden eagle that soared in through the open window, he exchanged a look with Atticus as the bird morphed into their father. He looked tired too, his dark chestnut eyes darted around frantically and warily almost in a bird-like way, his eyes were sunken and his skin an unhealthy shade of pale. His wiry frame was covered in a tattered black cloak that he had taken to wearing since being tortured by Death Eaters, at least he'd started leaving his room again._

_"I circled the house and it doesn't look like there's anyone waiting to launch an attack," his father informed them seriously as he started to make himself some coffee, pausing constantly to scan the room again, "I'm going with the precarious assumption that we're not in imminent danger at the moment so you can relax. I'm just going to check make sure the house-elves weren't killed while I was gone so they can check to make sure Mother and Father weren't attacked while I was gone, quarter of an our is more than enough time for Death Eaters to penetrate the Mansion and kill them in their sleep, sleep is for suckers who want to be defenseless!"_

_"Should... Should we be concerned for his sanity?" Atticus asked slowly after their father had left, Brutus scowled after him._

_"Probably. But then he has been nuts for years," Brutus answered trying not to sound worried, he actually hadn't been paying that much attention to his family since he'd become a Death Eater even during his recent break beyond noticing Atticus' absence, "does... does he do that paranoid thing often?"_

_"I don't know, I haven't been around much with work. Don't you know?"_

_"No, I've been busy with... stuff."_

_"Would it kill you to keep an eye on him?" Atticus complained in a derogatory tone, "I get that stringing along gold-digging floozies ranks high on your list of priorities but I can't be in two places at once, he's your father too and its not like you're doing anything. Doesn't family matter to you at all?"_

_"Of course family matters to me!" Brutus snapped angrily, "and I haven't dated anyone in months! And just because I'm not an Auror it doesn't mean you should speak to me like my life is valueless! Doesn't family matter to you?! Do you just not think of father or us when you're too busy being an Auror?!"_

_"There's a war going on! You may be content to laze around at home and wait for it to be over but it won't be over if some people didn't stand up and fight, I want to help I'm actually doing something useful! What are you doing? Nothing! Is it really hard to spare some time to make sure our father's alright because I can't?"_

_"Yes you can! Just quit being an Auror!"_

_"Quit being an Auror?!"_

_"Yes! Its not like you need the money! There is a war going on and you're just going to get yourself killed if they don't work you to death first!"_

_"Is that what you think?!" Atticus yelled as he slammed down the mug.  
_

_"Yes, its what I think! You're not cut out for this, you don't have what it takes, you're in way over your head and you're just going to get yourself killed like your mother did!" Brutus yelled and tried to reign in his temper, "I'm trying to save your life, listen to me for once! The Death Eaters are bad people, you don't know what they're capable of."  
_

_"I know bloody well what Death Eaters are capable of much more than you do! I may have been young but I still remember what it was like during the first war, you were safe here with father but I was in the thick of it with mother, right up until they murdered her. I'd rather die fighting to stop things like that happening again than live knowing I didn't do a damn thing, assuming there would even be a world left to live in."_

_"Atty-"_

_"They're still alive, everyone still alive for now," their father interrupted obliviously as he rejoined them, effectively ending their argument before a smile split his face, "you know I was thinking since you're both here for once that we could breakfast together, its been awhile since we did that."_

_"I have to get some sleep before work," Atticus answered first and their father's face fell, Atticus looked slightly, "I'm sorry."  
_

_"How about we all meet back here for dinner then?"_

_"I have to work."_

_"I have to be somewhere too," Brutus added guiltily and their father's face fell further as he gazed into the self-stirring cup, "I'm sorry."_

_"Its quite alright," their father said nodding half to himself._

_"I'll try get some time off for your birthday, how about that?" Atty offered and their father nodded again in acknowledgement or maybe just still nodding to himself as he didn't look up, "I'll see you later, I promise."_

_"I love you, please don't die," their father whispered as Atticus left the room without hearing the barely inaudible voice, "does he know that you're a Death Eater yet?"  
_

_"No," Brutus answered equally quietly as he finished his drink, "I have to go too, stuff to do."_

_"Don't let anything happen to him, protect him."_

_"I'm trying. Would be easier if he didn't have a death wish."_

_"He doesn't anymore, he's just dedicated. He's alright now."_

_"I still worry about him," Brutus admitted as he put down the empty mug, "will you be alright?"  
_

_"Yes, yes," his father muttered as his head bobbed up and down more, "I have to check for intruders again and then I'm going to go back to my room where its safe and no one can attack me."_

_"Well um..." Brutus began but trailed off, not really sure what to say to that, "do whatever makes you feel safe, I'll try make dinner if I can... Take care, Father."_

_"I love you too, please don't die," his father quietly begged as he left.  
_

* * *

Scorpius had a plan in place before the sun was up and he just had to hope Jack hadn't heard about Michael or he would need a new plan, he wrote out the letter and owled it while it was still dark. Considering how long Jack had taken to reply last time, it was better he get the bird moving as fast as possible. He'd be lying if he said he wasn't afraid and he felt bad for being so deceptive but he couldn't exactly ask his parents to drop him off at Varanian's in-laws house, on the other hand he was determined it was the only way and it gave him something to focus on other than what he'd done.

It was oddly quiet in the house, his parents never did yell at him for it and seemed to think simply not engaging him in much conversation and sending him to his room was enough punishment. Or maybe they just didn't know what to say to him, how to react to the whole situation. Mostly they just looked sad. His grandmother seemed more vocal than she had been over the summer which he took to be a good sign, even though she fussed over him and worried about his education and didn't seem to hold him the slightest bit accountable.

Jack replied surprisingly quickly, agreeing wholeheartedly with the plan and seeming as oblivious to his son's condition as Scorpius had thought which meant he had to act. He woke up early on the planned Thursday morning, pocketing his wand even if he didn't expect to be able to use it but he liked having it just in case before creeping downstairs. Even though his family were still asleep, the house-elves were already working on making breakfast like they did every day but there was only one who he could trust.

"Yip, can I talk to you?" Scorpius asked of his house-elf friend.

"Of course, Master Scorpius," Yip agreed cheerfully without stopping mixing eggs.

"In private," Scorpius added and Yip cocked his head to one side curiously before nodding, following Scorpius out of the kitchen, "I need you to apparate me to the Rainbowside Lodge in Plymouth. And cover for me so my family don't find out."

"I don't think I'm allowed to do that," Yip said slowly looking worried, "why would you even want to do such a thing?"

"Its important. Please."

"I don't wish anything bad to happen to you, its for your own safety that you remain here not in a muggle place."

"I'm meeting someone, its not like I'm wandering off alone. You can meet him if you want, see for yourself that I'm in good hands," Scorpius pleaded, "I'll only be gone for the day, you can pick me up at seven from there and if I'm not back then you can come looking for me or tell my parents or whatever you want. Please, Yip, I'm asking you as my friend not as a slave to my family."

"Well..." Yip began but trailed off, seeming to be debating the issue over in his mind for what felt like the longest of times, "I get to meet the person that you're meeting, right?"

"Of course."

"Well... alright, Master Scorpius since we're friends but if I don't see you there at seven then I am going to hunt this fellow to the ends of the Earth. May I ask what this mysterious errand is?"

"I'm sorry but I can't tell you."

Yip started to nod in understanding and he'd taken Scorpius' hand before he'd realized it, Yip snapped his free fingers and in flash Scorpius found himself standing in a gloomy street. There was hardly no one about due to the early hour, the morning was grim and dark, the street small and crammed with muggle transport vehicles. The Rainbowside Lodge was a bad name for the place, the multicolored paint was peeling off the letters and the 'R' was dangling upside down, the 'b' was missing completely. The dark brick was chipped and cracked, the bars on the windows made it seem more like a prison than somewhere people willing stayed the night. Yip cast him a disapproving look, disparaging of the dank place.

"Just a second, we're a few minutes early," Scorpius whispered and Yip fidgeted, probably uncomfortable at being out in the open in a muggle place. They didn't have to wait long however as Jack came out a few minutes after that, dressed in the same leather jacket as before with leather pants to match this time and boots, "Jack!"

"Hey," Jack greeted him as he noticed him before his jaw dropped at seeing Yip, "wow, what is that thing? That the little elf thing you mentioned?"

"I am Yip the house-elf," Yip announced proudly.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't you have a little elf hat? In the movies elves always have little hats with jingle bells on it, I expected a little elf hat."

"We don't have those."

"Well you should get them, you'd look cute. And you'd jingle."

"You can go now, Yip, thank you for this. I owe you one," Scorpius intervened before Jack could say something badly offensive, "see you here at seven, I'll wait in that little dead end alley just there with Jack so there's less chance of you being seen."

"Are you sure you really have to do this?" Yip asked him pleadingly and Scorpius nodded, Yip snapped his fingers again and was gone without another word.

"Magic is awesome," Jack stated gazing in amazement at the spot that Yip had been standing, coming over and waving his hand through the empty air, "I can't wait until I get magical powers."

"You're either born magical or you're not," Scorpius pointed out.

"Yeah, yeah, keep believing that," Jack brushed it off and went over to a motorcycle that looked out of place in the dingy street because of its pristine condition, every shade of blue on it was crystal clear. There was a leather jacket thrown across the seat and two full face helmets, Jack tossed him the jacket and grinned, "ever been on one of these before?"

"N-No. Can't we just..." Scorpius stammered awkwardly, he'd never thought motorcycles looked very safe but he trailed off for realizing he'd about to stupidly say apparate or Floo, did muggles really only have only lame ways of traveling? "walk?"

"Nope, the Embry's live away a ways. I ain't walking that far or we'll be here all day and I'd rather jump in front of a bus then use one, riding is way quicker and way funner. You'll like it if you give it a chance, you're in good hands with this baby, she wouldn't let anything happen to you. Now put on the jacket, its for your protection and good against the wind."

"Did-Did you just refer to your motorcycle as a she?" Scorpius wondered in confusion as he pulled on the leather jacket, that he actually didn't mind it so much.

"Damn straight," Jack said firmly as he handed him the smaller of the two helmets, "now this is a sport bike so I have to lean forwards quite a bit so just keep your arms around my waist and hold on tight."

"What?! I'm not doing-"

"You want my help you can do it my way, I didn't have to put time, effort and money into helping you but I am because I'm a good person. And you owe me again, wizard boy," Jack interrupted as he pulled on some gloves from his pocket and finally picked up his helmet, his grin back in place as he winked, "it'll be fun, if Mikey can do it then surely you can."

Scorpius swallowed nervously, he thought he was having the exact opposite of fun but Jack did have a point about his help and especially after what he'd done to Michael, he should be complaining. Jack told him about where to put his feet before putting on his helmet, decoratively patterned with thorns, and helped Scorpius with his. Scorpius was still filled with dread as he climbed onto the back and wrapped his arms around Jack's waist, feeling foolish and uncomfortable being in such close proximity to a muggle man.

Scorpius felt his heart beat faster as Jack made that horrible revving sound, beginning to doubt his whole plan. He was alone in a muggle place miles from home, with a muggle man he barely knew or trusted, on his way to see two more muggles who may or may not be able to help him find a fugitive marked for death and about to go on a muggle contraption that might possibly kill him. Maybe he'd been so focused on trying to take his mind of his guilt over hurting Michael that he had missed a fatal flaw in his plan - that it was _insane._

He screamed as the bike sped off, the sound muffled to his own ears. They were zooming through the streets, weaving in and out of the barren streets, weaving past the few cars there were. It took Scorpius a few minutes to realize he was actually enjoying it, he wasn't sure how fast Jack was going - or even if they were supposed to be going that fast - but he liked it. It was sort of like flying only on the ground, the wind whipped past him as they soared through the roads. Scorpius was actually disappointed when they stopped.

"Okay so I figured we could get some breakfast first, odds are the Embry's aren't even up yet," Jack commented as they dismounted the bike and removed their helmets, Scorpius was tempted to suggest just riding around on the bike to kill time but decided against it. Jack was actually being logical.

Scorpius followed him inside the building they'd stopped outside of, a 'McDonalds' from the sign. There was hardly anyone inside, a handful of people that seemed to be scattered around in the corners but Jack strode confidently over to the ordering counter and Scorpius stuck fearfully close by his side. Feeling afraid again, did any of the muggles in there want to hurt him? Would they attack? He clutched the wand in his pocket desperately, it made him feel slightly comforted while Jack flirted with the woman taking their order, whatever he'd said had made her giggle. Jack stopped only to ask him what he wanted but Scorpius just asked for whatever, Scorpius was relieved when they left with their order for the furthest table away from the other customers. Scorpius had some kind of edible breakfast thing that would have been alright if not for the disgusting slab of cheese and a milkshake, Jack seemed to have the same.

"So what did you think of riding a motorcycle?" Jack asked conversationally.

"I want one of those," Scorpius admitted and Jack laughed.

"Told ya. They're fast and fun and much safer than cars, sexier too. Cars are killers, let me tell you."

"Do you actually know anyone who died in a car crash?"

"My mum," Jack said immediately and Scorpius was caught off guard, he hadn't expected Jack to say anyone let alone so close to him but then he didn't know a lot about cars or how often people died in them, "when I was two."

"I'm sorry."

"Its okay," Jack shrugged it off, "shit happens. Seriously though, be wary of cars because people can die or get hurt. Y'know Mikey's been in _three_ car crashes? Don't think his stepdaddy dumbass Bob is a good driver because he was driving every time and the lucky sod got off without a scratch every time but Mikey got broken bones. Its not the drivers who get slammed because they got airbags, its the passengers who are in the firing line so if you're ever in a car make sure you're the one behind the wheel."

"I'll bear that in mind."

"Good... So, how's Mikey?"

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" Scorpius wondered, not wanting to have to tell Jack about what he'd done to his son but Jack sighed.

"We don't exactly have the best relationship, he pretty much hates me I think, especially since Crystal married that ass. You want my advice? Never cheat on a pregnant woman because one stupid drunk mistake and not only will the girl hate you forever but the kid will too. Besides, his writing is illegible."

"You cheated on Michael's mother while she was pregnant with him?"

"Yeah. Its not like I'm proud of it, in fact I regret it more than anything else I've ever done and that is saying a lot which is why my advice to you is don't do it."

"I wasn't planning on it."

"Good... So, how's Mikey?"

"Didn't you already ask me that?"

"You didn't give me an answer," Jack pointed out as he finished his food and leaned back lazily in his chair, his piercing eyes not leaving Scorpius' face, "I know changing the subject when I see it. Did something happen?"

"I-I don't know if its my place to say," Scorpius answered with a sinking feeling, he definitely hadn't thought it all the way through.

"Tell me," Jack commanded and Scorpius shifted in his seat, afraid if he told him that Jack would just leave him there stranded, "I know I'm not the perfect dad but I do care about him, look I keep this picture with me all the time, it was taken the day he was born. Never good with dates but I was there, barely in time because he was born so quick and less than an hour later he would have been born the next day. If something happened to him then you should tell me because I have a right to know."

Jack took out his wallet as he spoke and removed a small unmoving muggle photograph to show him, like Jack had said it was a tiny baby - presumably Michael - being held by someone who wasn't visible in the picture beyond hands. He was wrapped in a white blanket with his little hand curled around the edge, his eyes were half open. His perfectly intact undamaged eyes on his perfectly intact unscarred face, unknowing what his friend would do to him in the future. The guilt was like a punch to the gut.

"Not now. I'll tell you once we get to the Embry's," Scorpius whispered hopelessly and Jack looked concerned, "I promise."


	23. II: A Different House

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panter1, SDF and Lucfiersdaughter for reviewing!_

* * *

_Brutus left the mansion, you needed to be off Ashain grounds to be able to apparate which he did. Malfoy Manor had no such protection, or at least it had been removed so the Death Eaters had easy access. Not that they were using the manor as much since Lucius Malfoy's incarceration and the son's return from Hogwarts but he'd been told to go there so he could be taken to the new location. Sure enough, Rodolphus Lestrange was waiting for him, leaning against the wall in the hallway with his arms folded and a dark expression._

_"You know what's interesting?" Rodolphus commented icily._

_"I'm on time," Brutus growled in complaint, "early in fact."_

_"Not that. I was talking about the news recently, or rather lack of news. You see, I was looking forward to reading about a healer disappearing from St Mungo's on June 6th or better yet, the discovery of a corpse but there's been nothing. Do you know why?"_

_"Because there's bigger things going on than some stupid healer?"_

_"Because you didn't kill any healer!" Rodolphus roared with sudden fury and Brutus jumped, "I told you to kill the healer who treated him!"_

_"I erased her memory, its just as good... and draws less suspicion!" Brutus protested defensively._

_"Memory charms can be broken! The dead can't be raised!" Rodolphus snapped and drew his wand, Brutus' eyes bulged fearfully. They wouldn't really kill him for that... would they? "if I tell you to kill someone then you bloody well kill them, there's no place for weakness in the ranks of the Death Eaters!"_

_"Are... Are you going to kill me?"_

_"If I was going to kill you then I would only do so after forcing you to peel the flesh from your own family's bodies first and make you watch as they died in agony! What's the healer's name?!"_

_"The healer?"_

_"Who treated Tommy! So we can go to her house and take her out!"_

_"Erm..." Brutus answered awkward while the woman's name popped into his mind: Avlyn McCallister but it didn't leave his lopsided lips, "she didn't say."_

_"Well what did she look like then?!"_

_"I don't know, like a woman?" Brutus offered unhelpfully, unwilling to give up someone to death._

_"Crucio!" Rodolphus yelled flicking his wand at him and a jet of unstoppable red light hit him. It felt like thousands of burning knives were boring through his bones, he could hear himself screaming and if possible the pain only intensified the longer it went it on. And then abruptly it stopped. Brutus didn't remember falling but he was on the ground when the pain stopped, breathing heavily as his body treacherously trembled, "did that refresh your memory on the elusive healer's appearance?"_

_"I... don't... remember," Brutus lied as his mind was flooded with details of her appearance but he was damned if he was going to tell Rodolphus after being tortured. Was that really what he put Tommy though every day? "I swear. I was focused on making sure Tommy got healed and we weren't interrupted, not what some woman looked like."_

_"Really?"_

_"Yes! If I remembered don't you think that I would tell you?!" Brutus barked and Rodolphus peered at him as if debating this for a moment, Brutus tensed fearfully as the wand in Rodolphus twitched before lowering and his mind breathed a sigh of relief._

_"Yes I think you would," Rodolphus admitted as Brutus cautiously started to get to his feet, had he actually got away with it? "if you're too weak to kill then you're obviously too weak to resist torture, especially by my hand. I'm particularly adept at it. We'll just have to hope your memory charm holds or I'll do a lot worse than that, do you understand?"_

_"Yes, sir."_

_"I prefer master."_

_"Yes, Master."_

_"Good. We'll deal with your reluctance to kill at some point but for now to the twins, we've wasted enough time on this," Rodolphus offered with a smirk and abruptly grabbed his shoulder, apparating them both away._

* * *

Scorpius thought Jack was noticeably quiet as they left the McDonalds, probably anxious over what had happened to his son. Despite that, Scorpius still found himself loving the motorcycle ride and thought he might overlook his dislike of muggles long enough to get one for himself one when he was older and everything was alright. His laugh at the ludicrous thought that someday things being 'alright' was muffled by the helmet but he still laughed, until they came to a stop.

Penrose Street was much nicer than the street he'd met Jack on, it was houses rather than multistory buildings. The detached red brick houses all looked very neat with their little fences and gardens out the front, the sunlight was streaking its dazzling light across the multicolored leaves on the trees in some of the front yards, shades of red, orange and gold because of the season. It didn't provide much warmth but it was much easier on the eyes than the grim place where Jack was staying.

The street started at a right angled bend after the first two houses meaning the Emrby household was the first of the row at the corner, there was a short red brick wall surrounding the shortly cut lawn with a white trim. Either side of the spindly black gate which had a '3' build into the design the wall heightened, an intricate stone flower was crafted on the top of either side that looked magically made. On the right side there was a huge weeping willow that obscured his view of the house and dripped some of the trailing leaves over the side of the wall.

"So what happened to Mikey?" Jack asked as soon as they'd dismounted and removed their helmets, Scorpius sighed and looked away from him.

"There's this older kid that picks on us and I was dueling him, he was winning and I was mad so... so I tried to use this nasty spell on him," Scorpius told him, still without looking.

"Good on you."

"Michael was there, he didn't want us to fight."

"He's a pacifist like that."

"Yes he is but he... he jumped in the way of the spell to protect the other kid and he got hurt instead. It struck him across the eye, he can't see with it anymore and he has a horrible wound. That's why I got suspended and I just came from home rather than school."

"Yeah but its magic right, they can't just wave their magic wands and fix him?"

"No. Trying to heal it magically just makes it worse, the bully tried it and it hurt Michael worse."

"They can't do anything?" Jack wondered sounding worried for the first time since he'd asked what had happened, "can't they magic him up a new one?"

"They might be able to give him a magic eye, I think they can do that," Scorpius answered and for the first time realized it was true, they were expensive though he was sure but he didn't think his family would mind paying for it. Maybe things weren't so hopeless after all, he'd still have a scar though but it might not be so bad. He brought his head back up at Jack, his mouth opened and closed a few times as if trying to think of something to say while his expression flickered between anger, sadness and an unreadable expression.

"I need a drink," Jack said finally and pulled the helmet back on as he straddled the bike once more, Scorpius started to cry out for him to wake but it was lost in the rev of the engine as he sped away.

Scorpius swallowed fearfully, now he was alone in a muggle neighborhood. Memories of his abuse at the hands of the muggles filtered into his mind as he eyed the seeming innocuous houses, half-expecting for the doors to burst open and find himself swarmed by muggles trying to imprison him now that his protector was gone. He gripped the wand in his pocket and felt stronger, if the worst came to the worst he could risk expulsion to defend himself, he'd overcome his fears before, he could handle it. If he couldn't handle being alone in a muggle street then how was he supposed to help Varanian stop the Shadows?

He pushed past his fear and strode over to the gateway to the Embry's house, unlatching the lock manually and coming into the neat little yard. There was a quaint little path leading up to the white door in the center, two beds of multicolored lined the front of the house and the rest was all lawn except for the tree. He went over to the door and pressed the doorbell, jumping as it played a tune instead of simply going 'ding-dong' like the one at Marvin's house, the tune sounded oddly bittersweet and incredibly ominous considering he was willing going to muggles. What was he thinking? What as to stop them from holding him prisoner? He forced himself to stay calm as he saw a silhouette through the stained glass window on the door, he clung to his wand like his life depended on it as the door was opened by a woman.

Scorpius was immediately reminded of the woman in the pictures that he'd seen in Varanian's room the year before, only much older and without dark curly hair as hers was white and wavy, tied back in a loose bun. She peered at him from her ovular spectacles and smiled kindly at him.

"Can I help you, dear?" the woman asked gently.

"Are-Are you Gail Glenda Embry married to Richard David Embry?" Scorpius blurted out nervously and the woman's look became somewhere between concerned and curious.

"Yes I am, and you would you be?"

"Scorpius. Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy. Can I come in?"

"Sure," Mrs Embry agreed and moved aside to allow Scorpius entry into the narrow but cosy entrance hall, gesturing for her to follow him into a sitting room.

Scorpius realized he was in the right place immediately, the cabinets and bookshelves lining the walls were scattered with pictures and he saw Varanian in more than one. In fact he was sure some of them were the same as the ones he'd seen in Varanian's room, except they were frozen and unmoving. There was different ones too though, plenty with children with dark curly hair, the older black and white ones seemed to be Ethel as the happy little girl and the newer colored ones had to be Varanian and Ethel's children. Although new was relative, they had been dead about for over two decades.

There was a man in there sitting reading a book that he put down when he saw them, he too was older with curly gray hair laced with a few stubborn strands of dark, his dark eyes twinkled with curiosity as he raised an eyebrow at them. He and Mrs Embry featured in the pictures too, younger versions of them with the color in their hair. Presumably-Ethel was the living image of her mother for facial features only she had inherited her father's hair, both of her parents had brown eyes as she did.

"This is Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy, some sort of wizard child," Mrs Embry said to the man, drawing Scorpius back to present and he blinked in surprise.

"How do you know I'm a wizard?" Scorpius wondered, he didn't think he looked too out of place and he was still wearing the muggle leather jacket after all.

"Just... everything."

"So what can we do for you, son?" Mr Embry - presumably him anyway - asked.

"I'm not your son," Scorpius snapped before he could stop himself and tried to sound less abrasive, "I need your help. I have to find Varanian."

"Never heard of him."

"Weird how you have pictures of him then," Scorpius pointed out gesturing to the nearest photograph that had Varanian in it - which happened to be their wedding photo - with his wand because he'd still been clutching it, "he was married to your daughter."

"And our daughter died a long time ago, we haven't seen Pip since," Mrs Embry told him as she went over to the golden couch her husband was sitting on, perching herself on the edge of the armrest and folding her arms, "sorry but we can't help you."

"I know you're lying. I spoke to Varanian recently and he said you'd been helping him."

"Why don't you start from why you want to find Pip and why we should help you?" Mr Embry asked him calmly.

"I... Okay fair question," Scorpius admitted lowering the wand he had been unwittingly brandishing but he kept it in his hands, "I don't know how much you know but I'm on his side, I need to talk to him about the whole situation. Just take me to him, he knows who I am."

"Does he?" Mrs Embry wondered exchanging a long look with her husband.

"Yes he does, he would want to speak to me. I think."

"Well wait here," Mr Embry offered as he got up and left, Scorpius shifted impatiently and nervously.

"Would you like something to drink?" Mrs Embry said politely and Scorpius' heart twisted in terror as he remembered what had happened last time a muggle had offered him something to drink, he violently shook his head, "well would you like to sit down at least?"

"I'm good," Scorpius pointed out, not feeling like giving up the advantage of being able to run if something went wrong or they attacked him. Old people could be bad too, like Linden. She wasn't sitting either. His eyes drifted back to the photographs for something to look at, a reminder of them being connected to Varanian made him feel a bit more at ease. The silence stretched uncomfortably and he had the urge to break it, "so... have you known Varanian long?"

"Yes. Our daughter, Ethel, introduced him to us at the end of her first year when we picked up at the platform, had been hearing about him since the first week though because they were thick as thieves since they met. He was practically living here by the time they graduated, married right out of Hogwarts on Pip's eighteen birthday in July. They moved out then, started a family a year later."

"And then they died," Scorpius said quietly and Mrs Embry only nodded solemnly. Silence fell again although at least now she was staring at the photographs rather than at him, he still felt obligated to break it, "what was Varanian like when he was young?"

"The word cocky comes to mind," Mrs Embry offered after a moment's thought, "he wasn't so bad when you get to know him."

"Why are you helping him? He's not really related to you and you could be in danger from knowing where he is."

"Because its the right thing to do," Mrs Embry shrugged, "he was the man our daughter loved and the father of our grandchildren, nothing can change that. I believe in the afterlife, I believe they're watching over us and I dread to think what they would say if we turned our backs. He would do the same for us without a second thought."

"Alright," Mr Embry announced as he returned, "you have to go now, Mr Malfoy. Just walk forwards from our front door and don't stop until you reach the end of the street."

"What? I thought you were going to take me to Varanian," Scorpius protested but Mr Embry only gestured him towards the door.

"Just walk."

Scorpius scowled as he went to the front door that Mr Embry opened for him, he headed out feeling apprehensive. Was it some kind of test? Or some kind of trap? Was it a muggle way of politely refusing to help him? Or did they just want him out of the house to contact Varanian or go to him to discuss it? Why was he walking up a muggle street?! Was he supposed to come back when he got to the end of the street or what? He sighed miserably and carried on walking up the road, feeling like an idiot. He definitely needed to think things through more.

Abruptly a scarred hand shot out from behind one of the parked cars and grabbed him, Scorpius started to cry out fearfully but he was yanked back so he could see who the hand belonged to. Varanian. He relaxed immediately and opened his mouth to express his relief only to find himself being apparated.

* * *

_Brutus was given a quick tour of the house which he wouldn't have minded if his legs would stop shaking, it didn't take long though because the house was not a mansion but a house, only a few rooms bigger then the box his friend lived in. Despite the size there actually seemed to be more Death Eaters around though, he didn't know whether it was because of the heavy effort to recruit or because they had more free reign to bring in whoever without Narcissa complaining about it. Either way, he didn't like it as he got some disgusted looks from the people he didn't know. And from the people he did know. He hated it. _

_Rodolphus took Tommy away to be 'trained' and Brutus felt a renewed sympathy, it was no wonder the poor kid was nuts when he had to endure that every single day. He went down into the basement where the twins would have to stay, naturally. It was a lot smaller than the Malfoy's and extremely empty, there was no junk or treasure or pictures. In fact there wasn't even a bed, just four concrete walls and the wooden steps leading downwards. There was a window though, an extremely small window that was too high up anyone to see out of but rays of sunlight were dancing through it to illuminate the emptiness._

_Brutus shivered violently despite the sunlight as he came down the steps and sat down on the lowest one to rest his shaking legs, he glanced across at Sal who was standing in the center of the room staring into the shadows. Her hair was longer than when he'd first met her, meeting her shoulders although it was as filthy and matted as ever but it hadn't been cut back like Tommy's had. _

_"Hey," Brutus called out after a minute of not being greeted as he usually was._

_"Hey," Sal said expressionlessly before glancing to him, revealing a black eye but she smiled as she came over and sat on the step beside him, "welcome to the new prison. Its very empty."_

_"What happened to your eye?"_

_"Rodolphus hit me."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because we tried to do magic without him, we thought if we erased our memories of Azkaban then we would be able to do magic normally like they wanted."_

_"And it didn't work?"_

_"It didn't just not work, it backfired and now we can't forget. Rodolphus tried to reverse it and couldn't so he got angry, punched me in the eye and beat Tommy," Sal explained, "I hate him."_

_"So do I," Brutus admitted clenching his fists angrily, Rodolphus shouldn't have any right to treat them like that._

_He gazed into the darkness but his thoughts were drawn away from Rodolphus as he wondered, why was it so dark with sunlight? He at the shadows while Sal sat silently beside him before he realized something off about the shadows, they weren't just shadows, they were shaped like people. But not like him and Sal sitting on the steps, like people standing up staring at them. It struck him that they were staring at them, where the shadow head shape was there were two pitch black holes where eyes would be if they weren't just shadows. He jumped back in shock and drew his wand, Sal just raised an eyebrow at him._

_"What's wrong?" Sal questioned curiously._

_"Get back, those aren't real shadows, they have eyes," Brutus barked and hauled her further back up the steps with him, not sure how to tackle shadows, he'd never heard of that before._

_"I know," Sal pointed out and Brutus turned away from them to look at her in confusion but she looked completely unfazed, "you never noticed them before?"_

_"No!"_

_"They're always down here, people just don't notice them I guess," Sal shrugged and Brutus glanced back to see they were gone, he scowled and stared into the darkness only to notice them again, "or just don't care."_

_"What the hell are those things?!" Brutus demanded, hoping he didn't sound as afraid as he felt._

_"You don't know?"_

_"Of course I don't know!"_

_"I know something you don't? The novelty," Sal commented cheerfully with a sly smile, seeming to relish knowing something he didn't for a change or possibly because of what they were, "honestly, Brutus, they're just shadows... Shadows of Dementors."_


	24. II: Basement Brooding

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter, Flags-R-Us and SDF for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Why do they focus on Tommy more then Sal?_**  
_Bellatrix always favored Tommy over Sal, she considered Tommy more powerful and more of Voldemort's heir since he was a boy and could share Voldemort's birth name, Voldemort had only wanted one child-horcrux so she considered one of the twins a spare and not important unless the other one died and she considered Sal this spare. She kept Sal alive and fed her the same delusion rants about everything in case something happened to Tommy (Sal is still Voldemort's child too) but Tommy was always Bellatrix's favorite much to Sal's frustration. That carried on through to everyone else, when she introduced them she focused on Tommy and Sal was an afterthought so everyone else did too. Because Tommy was tortured and pressured more his power came out more so everyone started considering Tommy more powerful than Sal as well and thinking it was more important to train the more powerful twin because he's more useful so they focused on him more than Sal_

**_How's Jack gonna find Scor?_**  
_He can't_

* * *

_"Shadows of Dementors?" Brutus repeated dubiously._

_"Yes," Sal told him still smiling, "why? Didn't you know Dementors have shadows?"_

_"Shadows don't have eyes."_

_"They do when they come from Dementors, you can make them break away from the Dementor and then they just follow you around, they become more like your shadows. I like shadows, they follow you around so its like you're their master," Sal said as she reached out to hold his hand, Brutus jerked his hand away frustratedly from her cold bony fingers, "I'll be a good master."_

_"What have I told you about holding my hand?!" Brutus snapped and Sal just shot him a disinterested look, "how do they break away from the Dementors? Shadows can't do that."_

_"Maybe not normal shadows but these ones can. They won't hurt you, Brutus, don't be afraid."_

_"I'm not afraid!"_

_"Then why are you still standing and aiming your wand at the shadows?"_

_"Make them go away," Brutus pleaded and Sal looked at him like he'd seen the strangest thing in the world before laughing, a strange awkward laugh like she'd never laughed before._

_"Shadows follow you, not go off on their own. Shadows need a master. If they don't have one then they could hurt you, Brutus, then you should be afraid."_

_"I don't understand."_

_"Dementors feed off happiness and their Shadows want the opposite, they feed off suffering. The Dementor sucks out the happiness and its Shadow thrives off the pain and suffering left in the victim, no one ever notices the Shadow. People don't realize either the purpose behind the Dementor's Kiss, its the most painful thing anyone can endure and the Shadows want that more than anything, they crave the pain of the victim's soul so when the Dementor sucks it out they tear it apart until there's nothing left but people only see or care about the shell left behind where a person once lived._

_"Dementors show restraint for the Ministry because they get a good haul off the prisoners but they are greedy, they didn't tell the Ministry about us because they didn't think they'd be allowed to have the two extra victims if they did and if the Dementors knew a prisoner was close to death then they would take their soul as they died rather than letting them move on. I don't know if the Ministry knows or not, whether they turn a blind eye so the Dementors will keep guard, encourage it because they believe prisoners deserve it or simply too moronic to realize it. Either way though, its bad and those are the people who run our world?_

_"You can free the Shadows from the Dementors, they get new ones after awhile and bind them to you instead, they only feed off of your suffering then and thanks to the Masters like Uncle Lucius and Rodolphus we suffer a lot so they have plenty to feed from. If you tried to make them go off on their own then there's no one to stop them from just tearing souls apart, it happened before so believe me if they were free then they'd be more likely to hurt you. You have nothing to fear from the Shadows down here."_

_"Is that why its always cold?"_

_"You think its always cold?"_

_"No," Brutus lied, it sounded stupid if he was the only one who felt it and he felt even less safe if what Sal said was true. Or she could just be mad and making things up to scare him, that was what the other Death Eaters would say, "have you told anyone else about them?"_

"_Why would I do that? No one would believe us or care. Besides like I said, they're not a threat right now."_

_"Sal, dragons could eat you, rip you apart, crush you to death or light you on fire with their breathe. If one was asleep then it still wouldn't be a good idea to stand next to it."_

_"Brutus, you're completely safe with the Shadows. They haven't hurt you in all the months you've been guarding us, have they?" Sal asked tilting her head to one side._

_"Well no," Brutus admitted but still felt no better, "but that doesn't make them safe."_

_"Well I couldn't get rid of them, even I wanted to so either get used it or tell someone and hope they believe you."_

_Brutus stood their for a long moment debating it, he could tell Rodolphus and maybe Rodolphus would know how to deal with it and get rid of the Shadows. Or more likely, he would laugh, call Brutus a liar and torture him again. Brutus would really rather avoid that. Slowly he sat back down at the top of the steps, he would look into the matter himself via the library at home and hope he found something. There had to be something. He shivered._

* * *

"Why aren't you in school?!" Varanian demanded disapprovingly almost the second they'd materialized, he was dressed in muggle clothes again, "didn't you listen to me when I said the Shadows were after you?! And don't go near my in-laws, are you trying to get them killed?"

"I got suspended," Scorpius told him trying to risk a glance to see where they were but there didn't seem to be any buildings.

"Why?!"

"I was dueling with-"

"Fine," Varanian interrupted holding up his hand to silence him, looking thoughtful for a moment as he glanced their surroundings which consisted of empty fields and a scattering of trees. He sighed, "alright, Scorpius, I'm going to trust you. This is where I've been hiding out."

Scorpius scowled in confusion at their desolate surroundings, wondering if Varanian was sleeping out in the cold before the former headmaster pointed. Out of nowhere a building started to appear, battered gray stone walls started forming in front of him with windows either devoid of glass or boarded up, the only one not was shattered. It was a large building, towering menacingly above them and blocking out the sun, wide too and seemed to bow in the middle, bits of the roof were missing and you could see the rotted skeletal frame in places. It made him think oddly of a demented grinning face with most of its teeth punched out.

"You're staying here?" Scorpius wondered as he stared at the decrepit derelict building that Varanian had proceeded to steer him towards, up close he saw monstrous the cracks in the filthy stone, "in an invisible wreck?"

"Its not just invisible, I used the Fidelius Charm to hide its location. Its unplottable, intangible and soundproof. Except to me and now you too. You won't be able to tell anyone though, even if you want to unless I die, then you'll be the prime Secret-Keeper," Varanian explained, "and yes, I know it looks like a wreck but magically I've made sure its structurally sound and not dangerous. Because of their careers I asked my in-laws for a list of inhabited or abandoned places I could stay at, I chose this one because it was one of the most isolated and less structurally sound so if anyone found the destroyed list they wouldn't think I'd go for it."

"Why does it matter with the Fidelius Charm?"

"Because I wasn't sure I could cast it until I did, its complex and powerful magic. I couldn't do it twenty years ago, if I could've then I wouldn't be in this situation."

Scorpius nodded in understanding as they went inside the deeply dilapidated building, it wasn't any better inside where the dank reek of mold greet him. The floral wallpaper was so faded you could barely recognize the pattern and that was in places where it wasn't peeled almost completely off the walls, the floorboards were coated in an inch deep film of dust and even if Varanian hadn't been leading him then Scorpius would have known the way to go from the trail of dark footprints.

"This is the other reason I chose this place," Varanian offered as he came to a halt at the end of the trail of footprints in one of the desolate reception rooms.

Scorpius noticed there was a thin doorstep or random piece of wood lying there but didn't see why it would be a reason for choosing it. Varanian crouched down and grabbed the piece of wood, lifting it up as he stood and to Scorpius' surprise, the floor lifted up too or at least a square of it. It was a trapdoor. Varanian stepped back revealing stone steps leading down into the darkness, he gestured for Scorpius to go down first.

Scorpius crept down the steps, finding it immediately cooler and devoid of the awful mold smell. There was a solid concrete wall to his right and a metallic railing to his left going along the steps, it was dark ahead of him but to the left seemed to the area Varanian was occupying. The only source of light in the room came from a lantern on a long spindly table pressed against the wall opposite the steps but further to the left, Scorpius went over to it and saw there was an odd selection of wands on the table scattered amongst photographs of Varanian's family, the same ones he'd seen in Varanian's room the previous year as well as en empty glass. The walls were solid gray slabs of concrete with an odd assortment of cracks and scorch marks in them that he could see from the light.

The table was pressed up against a small camp bed that was wedged in the corner, the pillow looked flat and the green blanket thin and scratchy. It was only when Scorpius turned around that he saw evidence of Varanian working, there were boards positioned randomly around the illuminated area and every inch of them was covered in bits of paper; newspaper clippings about Shadow attacks, handwritten notes, maps, pictures of objects, pictures of people, lists of names.

"Wow," Scorpius said as he studied the boards.

"Its my research on the Shadows and everything," Varanian explained as he came over to stand beside him, "I did have it on the walls but it was distracting me from sleeping at night."

"Did you find out anything useful?"

"Depends on your definition of 'useful' really. I haven't figured out where the Shadow Master is or who the Shadow Master is yet but I've found out other things."

"Like what? And why do you have so many wands?"

"Well I figured out why Shadow-inflicted injures don't respond to healing even with spells that normally would and its to do with the wands. One of the times the Shadows attacked me, I got struck in the arm with a curse that injured me a bit, just a nasty gash really and I still disarmed him and got away. But when I tried to heal with it some potions it didn't work, I don't know that much about healing admittedly but I know that spell should have been able to be healed and I know that potion was good.

"But it got me thinking about the whole thing, the head healer who treated the staff injured in the Hogwarts attack claims of that some of the spells used were ones that should have been able to be healed and the papers slandered him as incompetent and insane for awhile until St Mungo's healers started agreeing with him then they just shut up about it. You can't change a spell, you can make up new ones but not change the purpose of existing ones. So if its not the spell then what else could it be?"

"The wand?" Scorpius guessed considering Varanian had mentioned wands a few moments ago.

"Yes, exactly. I studied wandlore for awhile so I do know something about it, I disarmed some of my Shadow attackers and just took their wands, I discovered this," Varanian told him as he took out his wand from the table and aimed it at the wall, saying an incantation and a crack appeared that he then repaired with another spell. He picked up a wand from the table and did the same thing, an even larger crack appeared but it didn't repair with the second spell, not even when Varanian went back to using the first wand, "the first wand was normal and the second was one I swiped from the Shadows, the damage can't be undone even with a normal wand. Its like that with all spells I've tried and more than that, the spells are also more powerful without trying. There's a taint in the wands the Shadows use, polluting the wand to every spell that comes through it is as effective as possible. And by effective I mean can do the most irreversible damage. All wands are different but I stole some with the same length, core and wandwood as the ones I took to make for a more accurate comparison and got the same result."

"You stole from Ollivanders?!"

"I didn't have a choice! I'm a fugitive, I can't access my account at Gringotts to get any money. Its Auror protocol to cut you off from your funds, if you have a vault then they tell Gringotts to deny access to anyone who comes for it and contact them immediately. I'll be more than happy to reimburse Mr Ollivander when my name is cleared and I can access my money again but for now it was important, I needed to make sure wands weren't being made like that and I recognize them as Ollivander wands so good thing is he's clean. I need to know as much as I can if I'm actually going to succeed in stopping the Shadow Master, I didn't want to steal but its important and I really do have every intention of paying him back and returning the wands.

"But not now, we'll get back to that," Varanian said rounding on him angrily, "how did you manage to get suspended for dueling?! Don't you realize how much danger you're in outside of Hogwarts?! Do you know how stupid it was for you to be dueling random students in the first place?!"

"It wasn't like I did it on purpose!" Scorpius protested also angrily, not liking Varanian's accusing tone, "and I have questions too! Why didn't you ever contact me?! Do you realize that the school's crawling with Aurors?! Do you know which one or ones are trying to kill me?!"

"Alright, anger isn't going to help, we need to work together not tear each other apart," Varanian said after a deep sigh, seeming to calm down and he looked thoughtful for a moment before flicking his wand in the direction of the darkness beyond the boards and a spindly chair dragged across the stone floor towards them, screeching with a sound akin to claws across a chalkboard, "sit. I'll ask you my questions and you answer then you can ask me your questions and I'll answer so we'll be all caught up, that seem fair?"

"Yes," Scorpius admitted although he thought it was a little unfair that Varanian got to his questions answered first but he did want to tell Varanian about the Aurors in case he didn't actually know. He sat on the chair while Varanian went to sit on the bed, presumably there were no other chairs, "so which question did you want to ask first?"

"Start from the start. Tell me about the attack on Diagon Alley and the attack on the school went down."

Scorpius was slight surprised by the request but he supposed it was relevant if Varanian was researching the Shadows, a first hand account was better than the semi-truths they put in the paper. So Scorpius told him what he knew about the attacks, he hesitated over whether he should tell Varanian about how he started walking towards the people, only Michael was aware of it that he knew. He looked at the man he'd spent the last year despising and plotting his downfall, the underlying scorn he'd always seen in the headmaster's face was gone, his short scruffy tawny hair was intertwined with dirt and if anything, Varanian just looked tired but there was a determination beyond it and his silvery eyes gleamed with alertness as he patiently waited for Scorpius to continue. He had trusted Scorpius with where he was staying, it was only fair and he might know something.

"Well that's interesting," Varanian commented seemingly half to himself.

"Why do think it happened?" Scorpius asked worriedly although he wasn't sure if Varanian would answer.

"I'm not sure exactly but I think they want you alive, you were most vulnerable like that and they didn't take the opportunity to take you out. They need you alive to revive the Shadow Master. This could be bad."


	25. II: The Way of the World

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter, Winged-panther1 and Aya Diefair for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

_**Is Varanian going to come to the conclusion that the shadows are remnants of dementors?**  
Not exactly, he thinks Dementors and Specters are linked somehow due to them both taking souls and both being repelled by Patronuses but isn't quite sure how_

**_Do the Dementors' Shadows choose to leave or do they have to have a spell casted to separate from Dementors?_**  
_They need someone to separate magically, that person then becomes the one they're bound to unless separated magically. If they could leave willingly then there'd just be roving bands of feral Shadows taking souls at random_

**_The Shadows can taint the wands cores?_**  
_Basically yeah, Sal knows how to taint wands like that_

* * *

"Why?" Scorpius wondered with scowling,"isn't it better they're not trying to kill me?"

"In a way," Varanian said carefully, "but if they need you alive then they might try to force your hand to manipulate you into being in the open or doing whatever they need you to do. What's it like with the Aurors there? Is there a lot of them?"

"There's a lot of them, positioned all over the school and they do patrols too, in the corridors and around the grounds. They don't come into the common rooms or classes but they stand in the Great Hall. They don't really say anything to you, just stand or walk around watching, they stay in pairs mostly and keep to themselves."

"Who took over as Acting Headmaster? They mentioned it was someone already employed by the school but now who, it was Neville Longbottom I assume?"

"Nope."

"The Astronomy guy... Koray?"

"Nope."

"Not that Arithimancy guy, surely?"

"Thankfully no," Scorpius offered with relief that Varanian seemed to share and tried not to smirk as he wondered whether Varanian would guess.

"Who then? Hagrid?"

"Nope."

"They couldn't have picked Ashain?"

"Nope."

"One of the new staff then? Everyone else is either a woman, a ghost or left."

"Nope."

"Then who?!" Varanian demanded getting more irate.

"Calderon," Scorpius told him but Varanian's expression didn't change.

"Seriously, who?"

"Calderon."

"Marius Calderon?"

"Yes."

"Not our Marius Calderon?"

"How many Marius Calderons do you know?" Scorpius wondered as Varanian seemed to be struggling to wrap his head around it, "does it really surprise you that much?"

"Its just... strange, it is Marius we're talking about," Varanian admitted as he ran his hand through his hair before his stunned look became a scowl, "wait, why in the world would _Marius_ suspend _you_ for dueling? You usually only suspend someone for dueling if they're caught at it a lot or someone gets seriously hurt."

"Someone did get seriously hurt," Scorpius whispered guiltily and told him about what had happened with James and Michael.

"Marius let you off light," Varanian snorted when he was done, "I would have expelled you both."

"Thanks," Scorpius muttered sarcastically although he thought it was probably fair, he deserved to be punished for what he'd done, "didn't you ever duel anyone when you were in Hogwarts?"

"Yes. A lot. And that was wrong of me, if I could go back and slap my younger self then I would. But its not the point, Marius being Acting Headmaster could actually be useful. When you go back you need to go to him and warn him about the Aurors, with any luck he'll be able to send them away because I don't know how much control an Acting Headmaster has and even a proper Headmaster or Headmistress can be overruled by the Ministry."

"I don't think he'd me any favors, he would barely look at me," Scorpius admitted miserably as he recalled Calderon's disappointment in him.

"It isn't about doing you a favor, its about protecting you and the rest of the students from Shadows. I know some of the Aurors are corrupt."

"Do you know which ones?"

"Rowan Ellisar, he's the one who tried to kill me. The others I don't know but there are others," Varanian offered and look irritated, "they're so paranoid, they always use Polyjuice Potion if they meet in person and its near impossible to spy on any conversations they have through Floo or through mail because they don't use owls but rather Specters to deliver it. Or they just do that for Ellisar because they know he's compromised as I know he's one of them."

"Specters deliver it?" Scorpius wondered in confusion and Varanian only nodded.

"Specters have some way of teleporting people or objects, they use it to deliver mail or sometimes if they're meeting in person, makes it hard to track them and impossible to get at their mail because they burn it after reading. The Shadow Master may be an evil maniac who got himself put in a coma but he was smart, he still is smart."

"He's not a threat in a coma though, just the other Shadows trying to revive him are."

"He's not completely in a coma, they don't mention it a lot but he's trying to communicate some way because they debate whether to follow the random orders or not. At least the lesser important people do, the ones running the show obey without hesitation," Varanian informed him before pausing thoughtfully for a moment, "you know, they might have been trying to draw you to them to have the Specters transport you away to wherever, not quite sure how they're hypnotizing them or whatever it is but it could be the reasoning behind it."

"But they can't teleport out of Hogwarts can they?" Scorpius asked worriedly, "there's anti-apparation wards."

"Specters aren't effected by anti-apparation wards, I think its why they use it rather than using more conventional means. Although saying that, I don't think they can get to Hogwarts because other defenses in place unwittingly stop them, that's why they needed the Blood Runes to destroy the defenses last year so they could attack," Varanian said with a painful look of guilt, "then again, no one knows how they got in in the first place or how they got out, if they got out because they couldn't have apparated in. From what I've gathered from the Aurors, they're pretty convinced Marius vaporized the other Shadows and just insists he didn't because he doesn't want to admit to killing so many people with power like that, regardless that they have no intention of charging him because it was justified and he saved a lot of lives. I'm more inclined to believe Marius though, its not something he would lie about and the Shadows haven't mentioned losing that many people."

"What happened to the Shadows attacking then? If they didn't die or apparate or be teleported."

"I don't know, use the cover of light to get out possibly."

"How does Specter teleporting work anyway?"

"Well all the reports of Shadow members vanishing into the shadows as they were chased is because they run into a bunch of Specters and then the Specters teleport them to somewhere else or the Specters go to them instead and take them away. I don't think they can get through the Hogwarts defenses, especially if Marius helped which he probably did but they might be able to teleport within Hogwarts if they were already within the boundaries. I wasn't sure if it was to do with the Specters at first because when it happened to me during the attack, I had the strangest feeling of deja vu like I'd been teleported like that before and I've never come across the Specters before so I thought it wasn't right. I just wasn't thinking straight though, I've gotten really good at noticing the Specters and I know they're instrumental in how the Shadows can teleport.

"Some people find it easier to notice Specters than others you see, they have a way of blending into shadows or darkness. If they're moving or there's a lot of them clumped together then its harder to see them, they're more like a mass of shadows or darkness so people don't see them for what they are which is why they're good for spying, they can just blend into the shadows and keep an eye on people. They were anyway, the people taking over can't utilize them as much or as easily as the Shadow Master could plus you crippled their numbers. They can possess people, if Ellisar is contact with the more in charge people then they like to possess a random muggle and communicate through them then take their soul and discard the body. They can use magic through muggle bodies though, without wands even.

"I haven't been able to find out anything besides that about the Specters though, I don't have access to a particularly great selection of books to research them. No one really seems to have been able to find out anything about them, no one knows what they are or where they come from and hasn't been able to find out. Dom and the Ashain did well to figure out the Patronus fends them off, it doesn't destroy them but it repels them the way it does to a Dementor or a Lethifold. I think the Specters are in the same family as Dementors, both being creatures of dark that can take souls and are repelled by Patronuses although how exactly, I'm not sure. You should try the Hogwarts Library, its quite extensive and you might have more luck."

"Calderon seemed to know about them," Scorpius pointed out recalling how Calderon had known what had happened to his grandfather and about them being unable to possess gray souls.

"Presumably from talking to the Shadow Master. Do you have anymore questions?"

"What does Rowan Ellisar look like?"

"I'll show you a picture when you're out of questions."

"Okay, why didn't you try to contact me?"

"Didn't want to risk it with the Aurors there but we do need to work on some form of communication. Next," Varanian answered swiftly and leaned back against the wall.

"What was that Potion you mentioned them using? I thought I heard it mentioned somewhere before."

"Polyjuice Potion?"

"Yeah that. What does it do?" Scorpius wondered as he tried to recall where he'd heard the name before.

"It allows the drinker to take the form of someone else."

"It turns them into Metamorphmagus?"

"No," Varanian snapped looking offended, "you can't become a Metamorphmagus like how you can become an Animagus, you're either born Metamorphmagi or you're not and you can't get rid of it. Metamorphmagi can change their appearance at will to whatever, there are limits but basically you have free reign. Polyjuice Potion on the other hand, just turns the drinker into a specific individual for a limited amount of time. In the case of the Shadows, they just use it to disguise their identity long enough for the meeting."

"I think Albus' dad used that before."

"It was used in the Second Wizarding War by both sides on occasion but the Shadows use it now, I think its why several professional Potion Makers are missing."

"The Aurors haven't realized that?"

"I don't know, there's a lot they don't realize is linked to the Shadows and they may not target someone specifically. I think they go after someone close to the victim to show they're serious then either threaten or abduct another family member to force their hand, a lot of families or sometimes friends of victims of Shadow attacks go missing after but long enough after that the investigation has ceased or at least been clumped into the mass number of victims of the Shadows and not given any more individual time. Ellisar and other Shadow Aurors he communicates with use their position to destroy any evidence before non-Shadow Aurors come across it, in this country anyway. They're attacking in other countries too, Ireland, parts of Europe, the Middle-East, Egypt in Africa so far, not just to steal things anymore, random murders of magical and muggle folk.

"The Shadow Master must have a damn good memory if he was able to keep track of all of this, the people they attack are mostly pre-planned by the Shadow Master and they're just carrying on for when they revive him. I'm not sure if they broke out everyone or just those they thought would be useful but they have an army from the prisoners of Azkaban that they're using to attack, their Specter numbers may be down but their witch and wizard numbers are up. Former Death Eaters are as ruthless as they ever were, some are even gaining rank, the werewolf Fenrir Greyback is making a name for himself amongst them, he's very happy with his new cause and the full moon is the worst night for attacks. Roland Seraph wasn't broken out of Azkaban but he's already high up, I've heard his name mentioned. But that's not important right now, we need to talk about your safety."

"My safety?"

"Yes, Scorpius, don't you realize how much danger you're in outside of Hogwarts? Hogwarts is protected, even with Shadow Aurors there, its not easy for them but you're not protected outside of school."

"I'm safe at home, my family will protect me," Scorpius protested, thinking it was a stupid topic of conversation when he'd much rather be hearing about the Shadow activities but Varanian rolled his eyes.

"Don't you understand that they _can't_? The Specters can possess everyone whose not a gray soul, do you understand what that means? Your own family could be possessed, they could become the ones after you. Unless you really think your parents or grandmother are gray souls?"

"I..." Scorpius began but trailed off, he didn't think they had ever killed anyone.

"I thought so," Varanian continued seriously, "you need to find someone else to stay with, someone who is a gray soul, someone who won't turn against you."

"My Aunt Daphne, she killed a Death Eater during the Battle of Hogwarts. She was only seventeen and was really broken up about it, still is I think... she can't hold a job and she drinks a bit."

"Alright good, ask if you can stay with her or get to her to stay with you when you get back. Its for your own safety. I have to go now but I'll be back later, just stay here until then. The picture of Ellisar that you wanted to see is on one of the boards, his name's written by it," Varanian told him as he stood and headed for the stairs.

"Wait, you're leaving?!" Scorpius burst out in panic as he jumped up and went to follow.

"Yes, I don't learn all this from sitting down here doing nothing. I'll be back later."

"Can I come?"

"No," Varanian stated dismissively as he headed up the stairs, leaving Scorpius alone.

Scorpius didn't know what time it had been when Varanian had left but it felt like an incredibly long amount of time that he was gone. Scorpius found the picture of Ellisar and was horrified to recognize him as one of the Aurors he'd seen around, there actually was one confirmed Shadow Auror at the school that was casually patrolling the corridors and hanging around Hogwarts.

He studied Varanian's boards intently, there was a long list that unraveled longer when you tried to look at it that seemed to be a list of the names of Death Eaters as all of the names he recognized were Death Eaters. Almost all had letters by their names, d or a or s with the occasional question mark and some had more than one letter. A handful of the names had a star by them, including Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, his grandparents and Brutus Ashain that he recognized. All but Rabastan and his grandmother had a 'd' beside them - although Rodolphus' had a question mark - and his grandfather also had an s. He spent so long going through the list that he thought he'd figured out that 'd' meant dead, 's' meant they were involved with the Shadows and 'a' meant they'd been imprisoned in Azkaban, the question marks presumably were if Varanian was uncertain about something and he actually was clueless about the stars. The ones with multiple letters had to mean both, like his grandfather had been working with the Shadows but was now dead or Fenrir Greyback had been in Azkaban but was now a confirmed Shadow.

There was also maps, one of England, Europe and another of the world with multicolored markers of some kind that possibly indicated attacks or maybe sightings if Scorpius had to guess and plenty of other random notes and things. It was all very extensive though, Varanian was extremely thorough and his dedication was astounding. Despite his interest in avenging his grandfather, Scorpius had gotten bored with the boards and list and only gone back to it for lack of anything else to do.

There were more extendable lists, labelled 'victims' and 'missing' which was more self explanatory and most names had notes by it about their death or disappearance and general notes about them, some were blank though and he assumed Varanian hadn't found any information on them or hadn't gotten to them yet. He felt a pang when he recognized the names Lorcan and Lysander Scamander as the twin sons of a friend of Albus, Rose and Abby's families and they'd also gone missing two weeks before their tenth birthday according to Varanian's notes. Varanian also noted that 'SM' and 'unidentified boy' had gone missing two weeks before their tenth birthday without a trace as well but nothing else on the matter.

He took the lantern and went to search the dark section to appease his boredom and to not think about what he'd read, it _was_ a coincidence and it had nothing to do with magic - or at least Scorpius' abduction didn't - and it shouldn't even be on the board at all. There was a few books, some clothes, potion making materials, filled vials, ink, quills and spare parchment but nothing of real value. He thought back to his dreams about the boy, magic had been involved in his abduction, in fact the Shadows had as he'd mentioned hearing something about the attack on Azkaban before it happened... _NO!_ he told himself firmly, _it has nothing to do with anything. It wasn't real. It didn't happen. I was just going a bit mad and I'm fine now. He isn't real._

* * *

_Brutus had tried his best to find out anything he could about the Shadows of Dementors but had came up blank, due to the nature of them, witches and wizards hadn't actually done an incredible amount of studying when it came to Dementors. Or at least those who had hadn't written anything about it for him to find, not in the extensive library at home, not in any of the book shops or magical libraries. All he had to go off of was what Sal had told him which wasn't in any way helpful for getting rid of them, she could say they were safe all she wanted but Brutus was incredibly unnerved by them._

_It wasn't all bad though, his dislike for being around them made him push to get the twins out of the basement and treated better, with Rabastan on his side they were actually succeeding. The twins now had a mattress each, blankets and pillows to sleep on, they were daily allowed meals that the Death Eaters were provided with as well as allowed water if they were thirsty, they were also permitted books to read for entertainment and to improve their learning literacy and they were allowed a change of clothes while theirs was washed. On Rabastan or Brutus' shifts if one of the twins was in training then they were allowed to either take the other one upstairs to bathe or outside the isolated grounds for some fresh air if they wanted._

_Mostly it was Sal who benefited from it, Rodolphus was even harder on Tommy with the war being official and it was nearly always Tommy in training. Brutus thought it was paying off, Sal was starting to resemble looking human rather than a skeleton with a thin sheet stretched across the bones. She was still frighteningly thin and unnaturally pale but she was getting there, Tommy was further off but he was starting to look less skeletal as well. Brutus did worry about Tommy, he was so withdrawn he barely spoke and Brutus worried Rodolphus had broken whatever spirit and sanity that Tommy had left. The few occasions when Sal was the one in training, Tommy sat in the corner with his knees hugged to his chest, sometimes he cried and sometimes he was just silent. He didn't seem to want to talk much either but the random incidences of magic had stopped, Brutus tried to bring him outside as often as he could because it was the only thing to bring the faintest ghost of a smile back to his face, albeit on shaky legs._

_"Its so beautiful outside," Tommy said abruptly one time they were outside, the leaves were starting to change color ready to fall and Brutus was surprised to see silent tears had streaked down his face, "why is it so beautiful when the world is so bad?"_

_"The world isn't all bad," Brutus pointed out._

_"What is the point? There's nothing good, nothing worthwhile. Its just pain and suffering, either inflicting it or enduring it. War and death and torture and beatings and pain and sadness and suffering and misery and failing and insults and starving. What is the point? There's nothing good. Why do people live if its just badness? Why am I alive? To either suffer or cause suffering and why? What is the point of more pain? I don't understand, is that the only purpose in the world? To cause pain? Is that all people want? Why bother being alive if that's all there is too it? How can those leaves be beautiful when there's nothing beautiful about the world?"_

_"There is good things, you just haven't gotten to experience them."_

_"And I never will," Tommy whispered tearfully and Brutus didn't have the heart to lie to him, "if they're even real at all I will never get to do it, I think its just a fantasy that masters mention to give us false hope. There should be more to life than pain. And my memory is so good, I can remember so many bad things but not a single good one outside of fantasies and hearing lies about good things. I've never been hugged - Mother thinks it encourages you to be weak, I've never laughed with friends - I've never laughed at all, no one's ever told me that they love me, no one's ever praised me - I've never succeeded at anything worth praising... There's nothing good. What's the point if there's nothing good in the world? Mother always said things would be better if we were free and they're not, there's nothing good in life."_

_"You can't think like that, Tommy."_

_"Prove that the world's not all bad then, do something good for me."_

_"What?"_

_"Kill me."_

_"I'm not killing you!" Brutus snapped immediately feeling angry and tried not to think of his brother. Tommy's lips curled into a cruel snarl and his eyes glinted darkly, Brutus shivered as the light around them seemed to fade._

_"See?" Tommy said quietly, no longer crying but his voice was so cold that Brutus wanted to shiver again before he realized the tree they'd been staring at was now on fire, "nothing good. Just lies and empty words. No kindness, no goodness, no happiness, no freedom, no love. Just pain and suffering. Life dies and shadows thrive..."_

* * *

"I'm back," Varanian announced and Scorpius was jolted from his thoughts, he'd just been lying on Varanian's bed planning what he could say to get his parents to let him stay with his aunt. Varanian came down and placed a takeaway bag on the table, "I.. I got Chinese food, I don't know what you like but its evening and I... thought that you might possibly be hungry. And I shouldn't let you starve."

"Well thanks," Scorpius offered as Varanian started unpacking food boxes with sticks and some bottles of water that he handed to Scorpius who moved back over to take them and sat back on the chair while Varanian took the bed again. Varanian explained about the 'chopsticks' and helped Scorpius get the hang of them although Varanian himself seemed only to succeed half the time and Scorpius actually found himself doing better than the metamorphmagi, it made him feel oddly at ease with Varanian and he much preferred the Chinese food to the McDonalds breakfast although conversation was non-existent. Varanian was either lost in thought or too busy focusing on eating properly so Scorpius decided to try break it instead, "so... looking at the board I couldn't figure out why some names are starred?"

"How much do you know about Marius' past?"

"That he was the son of Death Eaters," Scorpius said slowly, he was fairly certain Varanian already knew this but he was afraid of saying something that Varanian didn't know and making him turn against Calderon somehow. Then again, he didn't know much more than that.

"Yes," Varanian nodded, "the starred names are people Marius mentioned as having known personally, I think the Shadow Master is someone who knew him as a child so I starred them as potential suspects but considering how they're all dead except for your grandmother or Rabastan Lestrange, I'm not so sure it is someone he's mentioned or it could be Rabastan. How's your classes going? Has Ashain taught you to duel yet because you said you were losing to James?"

"Not yet, we were about to start learning it before I got suspended."

"Well we'll have to do something about that."


	26. II: Learning to Fight

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_I wonder his and Scorpius's reaction when they do find out, they will won't they?_**  
_Varanian actually already knows that Bellatrix is Calderon's mother but he assumed Rodolphus was his father, he has no idea about the relation to Voldemort or about his twin. They will find out the whole truth but I can't say that it will be all in one go or that it will be in this book_

**_Will Calderon forgive Scorpius?_**  
_Yes, he's a forgiving person_

**_Is Daphne gonna be in this soon?_**  
_Yep_

**_Will we see Jack again?_**  
_Yep_

* * *

They discussed plans for the next day to meet up so Scorpius could be taught to duel without either of them getting caught, Varanian didn't think a Portkey was safe enough in case anyone in his family accidentally stumbled across it and while the Embry's fireplace was hooked up to the Floo Network, he didn't want to put them at risk and Scorpius wasn't comfortable hanging out with muggles anymore than necessary but advised Scorpius to go there if in emergency. He didn't trust Yip to bring him either, Scorpius didn't that Yip would help again anyway so they came to the agreement that Scorpius would go for a walk just outside of his family's grounds where Varanian could apparate to take them both back. He told Varanian where he lived and where his Aunt Daphne lived too as he would hopefully be able to persuade his parents to let him stay with her. They agreed to meet at midday tomorrow before moving to Varanian requesting an explanation of how he'd found him, Scorpius started to tell him about Jack and Yip before something clicked in his memory.

"Wait, what time is it?" Scorpius asked worriedly.

"Quarter to seven," Varanian answered after glancing at a watch on his wrist.

"I'm supposed to meet Yip back at that place at seven, Jack should be with me."

"I'll take you," Varanian offered standing, "we have to go outside though, I put up anti-apparition wards for safety. What did Jack look like though?"

Scorpius was slightly confused by the question until Varanian started altering his appearance based off of what he was saying that he caught on, they spent a few moments perfecting Varanian's image of Jack as Scorpius tried to recall everything he could about the muggle's appearance for Varanian to mimic. Scorpius was satisfied and incredibly impressed as they headed upstairs, Varanian closed the trapdoor behind him but they still had to go outside the dilapidated building before he was apparated to an alleyway on the street. Jack's motorcycle wasn't there so he assumed Jack wasn't either, he wondered what he should do with the leather jacket he still wore as he couldn't give it back to him if he didn't know where he was. He decided he'd just keep it until he next saw Jack to give it back to him or wait for Jack to contact him to arrange to give it back.

"Remember to keep your wand with you at all times," Varanian told him seriously, his voice sounding strange coming from Jack's mouth, "you need to be able to defend yourself, if your life is in danger then you're allowed to use magic. Even if you weren't, its not worth not protecting yourself if you're in danger, doesn't matter if you're expelled or not if you're dead."

"I have my wand with me," Scorpius pointed out and flashed it briefly for him to see, "and can't you change your voice? Jack sounds more... informal and like a bit deeper than yours, slightly gravelly."

"I-" Varanian started to reply but a pop announced Yip's arrival, he looked at Varanian curiously with a frown.

"Weren't you wearing different clothes earlier?" Yip questioned.

"It rained so I changed," Varanian answered in a growl that was slightly more like Jack's voice.

"And you bought him a jacket because of the rain?"

"Exactly, gotta keep kids warm."

"How kind of you," Yip commented before taking Scorpius' hand, Scorpius held up his free one to say goodbye before he was apparated back to his room at Malfoy Manor, "I hope you got whatever you wanted and are done with this. I told your parents that you've been feeling ill and wanting to be alone, I don't think I could've held them off for much longer for wanting to see you. Also dinner's ready."

"Thank you, Yip, you're the best," Scorpius said gratefully as he started to head towards the door to go to dinner. His family were already gathered around the table and looked relieved when they saw him, his mother looked on the verge of rising to go over to him, "hey."

"Where did you get the jacket?" his father inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"It was a gift from Michael, I took it back with me from Hogwarts," Scorpius lied and surprised himself both by how easily it passed his lips and the nod of belief from his father as he sat down at the table where a place had been left for him.

"Its very nice on you."

"Are you feeling any better?" his mother burst out looking deeply concerned and Scorpius paused before replying, this was it.

"A bit, I guess. Its just..."

"Just what?"

"Its just... I miss Grandfather, being here just reminds me that he's gone."

"So true," his grandmother mumbled miserably, "we all miss Lucius, dear."

"I was wondering if I could stay with Aunt Daphne for a bit, just for a break and well... I really don't see her enough, you never what's going to happen with the Shadows."

"Well... I... um..." his mother stammered and exchanged a stunned look with his father, "we'll think about it."

"Thank you, Mother," Scorpius said with a slight smile he didn't really feel although he thought his grandfather would probably be proud of his deception, it wasn't a lie about missing him.

* * *

_Brutus turned up for his shift in mid-October and was both pleased and surprised to see both of the twins were in the basement, it would be good for Tommy to have a break from training. He could hear them hissing at each other which he had learned to identify as Parseltongue, Tommy had his blanket wrapped around himself and his face was streaked with blood from a cut above his black eye while Sal look irritated. Both stopped when they noticed his arrival though, Sal smiled slightly and Tommy buried his head in his knees._

_"What's up?" Brutus questioned curiously, hesitating going over to them for fear of the Shadows but finally forced himself to so he could heal Tommy. He shivered violently and muttered the spell to heal him.  
_

_"Rodolphus is a bastard and Tommy's trying to turn into a squib."_

_"You can't turn into a squib, Tommy, and we all know Rodolphus is a bastard."_

_"If I was a squib like Marius Black was then I wouldn't be 'trained' anymore," Tommy pointed out sounding desperate as he raised his head a a fraction revealing that Brutus' spell had worked although the tried blood from the cut remained, "I figured out how to suppress my magic, haven't I? What's to stop me from figuring out how to get rid of it altogether?"_

_"You figured out how to suppress magic?"_

_"That's why magic doesn't happen by accident anymore. I can feel it trying to get out but I won't let it, no matter how much it hurts, its no worse than torture."_

_"That won't make you a squib, you're born like that or not," Brutus pointed out and frowned, "and that doesn't sound healthy, magic shouldn't hurt-"_

_"Oh good, Brutus, you're here," Rodolphus interrupted as the door at the top of the steps swung open, "I have a special exercise planned today to address your killing issues."_

_"But I have to guard the twins," Brutus protested weakly and worriedly, hoping he didn't look as afraid as he felt._

_"The twins are coming too, don't fear. Come on now, all of you."_

* * *

Scorpius woke early the next morning, despite not being set to meet Varanian until midday. He was excited to learn how to duel, ideally he'd have preferred to learn in class with Professor Ashain but still. He had started to wonder though about using magic outside of Hogwarts, did the Fidelius Charm that Varanian had used protected against the Trace? Or was Varanian going to do something to block it? Or was he planning on just not using magic at all, somehow?

Scorpius pondered it as he paced around his room, only leaving for meals until it wasn't far off midday where he strolled down and mentioned going for a walk to get some fresh air. He left without giving them time to comment but no one came after him so he assumed he'd gotten away with it, he did keep checking around to make sure none of them were following though as he went to the most eastern part of the grounds and leaving Malfoy property. He was wearing the black leather jacket that Jack had given him, he hoped Jack wouldn't mind him using it until he gave it back but it was very muggle and if they were in a muggle area then he wanted to blend in. Plus he kind of liked it and it wasn't hurting anyone.

He leaned against a tree, admiring the way the leaves floated gently to the ground around him before he felt a tap on his shoulder and jumped, for a panicked moment he thought his parents had followed him but it was only Varanian. He relaxed as relief flooded through him, Varanian glanced around to make sure there was no one around before apparating them both back to outside his hideout. He didn't actually look like he'd slept and was wearing the same clothes as yesterday but his stoic expression didn't give away much as he led Scorpius back into the basement, the basement that now had a series of lanterns hung uniformly on the ceiling to give them more light. It was actually a massive space when most of it wasn't in pitch blackness.

"So dueling," Varanian began turning to face him, "the formality is that you both bow to each other although I've noticed that both Shadows and Aurors don't bother with that, they just come at you, imagine that? But the formality is to bow, even Brutus and I used to always bow. Then you both have your wands at the ready and can attack. Simple enough said but more difficult in action. Hold your wand out like you're ready to attack me so I can see how you do."

"Like this?" Scorpius said as he took out his wand and aimed it at Varanian, gripping it tightly and Varanian came over to inspect him. He took one look at Scorpius' hand and shook his head violently.

"Wrong. Holding it tightly like that is good in the classroom, allows you to keep the movements very controlled and accurate for the spells that you're trying but in dueling its the worst thing you can do. In a duel you have to act fast, you don't stand opposite each other and politely take it in turns to let each other cast spells, what you're doing will impede your ability to move and the speed you can cast spells. You need to have a comfortable relaxed grip, hold it how you feel is natural because your wand is an extension of your arm. Your movements and actions need to be fluid as possible for speed and agility. As you get better you will find that you don't need such a tight grip on your wand anyway as the spell movements become natural to your wrist."

"Like this?" Scorpius asked again as he relaxed the grip on his wand so he was holding it comfortable.

"Yes. Now the next thing to learn in a duel is that you have to be light on your feet. You obviously need to attack your opponent but they will also being attacking you, you have two choices when an enemy spell is coming towards you: dodge or defend. Defend is either using a defensive spell - which are a little above your skill level right now - or using an object as a shield, this you could do as if you're fast enough you can levitate an object into the path of an oncoming spell so it hits that not you, not even an Unforgivable Curse can go through solid objects to hit you so it is actually useful and you should be capable of doing it. We'll get back to that though, what I want you to focus on is dodging because even a three year old can do that. I'm going to try to disarm you and you have to dodge the spell, ready?"

"N-" Scorpius started to say no but it was cut short as Varanian had already fired a spell at him, he tried to move but it was too late and the spell hit him in the shoulder, sending his wand spiraling into the air, "hey, I wasn't ready!"

"Wrong. You have to always be ready because an attack could come at any time," Varanian said seriously as Scorpius went to retrieve his wand, "now pick up your wand and try again. Ready?"

"I-" Scorpius was again interrupted by a spell only this time he had no time to dodge and his wand was again knocked from his fingers the seconds he picked it up.

"What did I just tell you?"

"Why do you even bother asking me if I'm ready then?!" Scorpius burst out in exasperation and he trudged over to his fallen wand once more.

"Because you could be in the middle of a conversation when you're attacked. Ready?"

Scorpius didn't bother trying to reply but instead just dived and saw a colored jet shoot by his ear, carrying on and colliding uselessly with the wall. He started to get to his feet, feeling quite proud of himself for dodging it and expecting Varanian to praise him but instead he was struck by a second spell that send his wand flying again. Scorpius scowled in frustration and Varanian raised a tawny eyebrow.

"What? Just because you succeeded once doesn't mean your attackers will stop to congratulate you, they'll just keep trying so you have to as well. Now pick up your wand and try again."

* * *

_Brutus' ominous feeling increased with every step he took upstairs with the twins walking in front of him but behind Rodolphus as he led them up the creaky wooden steps, it was a very bland house with white walls and wooden floors, completely devoid of decoration or personality like you would find in a home. Because it wasn't a home, it was a house being utilized by the Death Eaters. They took the first door on the right that led to what would probably have been used as a bedroom if it had been a home, the only difference between it and the corridor outside - besides the shape and doors - was the unconscious man lying on the floor. Rodolphus waited until they were all inside before slamming the door, the twins both flinched and Brutus swallowed nervously._

_"This piece of filth, children, is what we call a 'muggle,'" Rodolphus announced as he gestured to the man on the ground with his wand, the man revived immediately and peered around with beady brown eyes, he tried to get up but Rodolphus gave him a vicious kick that brought him down. Tommy cringed looking sympathetic while Sal wrinkled her nose in disgust, "these beasts lack any kind of magical talent or anything of note, their only noticeable ability is the way they are able to mimic the appearance and speech of people. Aside from that, they're just weak sacks of bones."_

_"Wh-What?" the muggle stammered fearfully, "my name is David-"_

_The sentence was cut off as Rodolphus flicked his wand and the man seemed to start to choke, he clutched as his neck as if trying to fight off invisible hands. He was struggling to breathe, clawing desperately at his neck while Rodolphus looked on with a sadistic smirk. Sal shared Brutus' unreadable expression as they watched while Tommy looked positively distraught._

_"Stop!" Tommy burst out suddenly in a high-pitched shriek, "stop it! You're hurting him, you're killing him, stop it!"_

_"Don't tell me what to you, Crucio!" Rodolphus snarled and aimed his wand at Tommy instead, the boy was thrown violently back against the wall but the muggle was freed of his ailment and greedily gulped down breaths while Tommy screamed in an unbearably high-pitched tone and writhed against the agony on the ground. Sal looked away. Brutus wanted to throw up._

_"That's enough," Brutus spoke before he realized the words were leaving his lips, Rodolphus blinked in surprise and let Tommy go immediately, "you were... talking about the muggle."_

_"Yes," Rodolphis said slowly looking back at him with loathing eyes before glancing back at the muggle, he aimed his wand and it was the man's turn to scream in pain. Tommy was getting back to his feet and looked about to protest against the torture again before Rodolphus let the muggle go, "that's how you torture, Brutus, do it to that thing on the ground. Demonstrate for the children."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because I'm telling you to."_

_"Pl-Please don't," the muggle sobbed, "please."_

_Brutus swallowed again, drawing his wand and aiming it at the crying man who had curled up in the fetal position, as if that would help. He glanced at the others, Sal looked curious while Tommy pleading and Rodolphus' was smiling. Brutus supposed it was win-win for Rodolphus, he'd either get to see a muggle suffer or lash out at Brutus for refusing. He looked back at the muggle, an ordinary looking man of average height and weight with brown eyes to match his eyes, he didn't look much older than Brutus._

_But Rodolphus was actually right for once, muggles weren't human. Brutus' grandparents on his filthy mudblood mother's side were muggles, they were the reason his life sucked. They were the reason he was deformed because Ashains were never deformed as his magical grandparents had always been quick to point out, the muggle taint in his blood had twisted his body to make him how he was. It was their fault he was ugly, their fault he wasn't as smart as everyone else in his family, their fault that he wasn't as talented as everyone else in his family, their fault that he wasn't powerful as everyone else in his family, if he'd been a pureblood like them then he would have been okay. But he wasn't._

_He was tainted by his blood and his potential to be anything was completely destroyed. And then on top of ruining his life before he was even born, they had the nerve to abandon him on the very same day he'd been born. Thrown him away like he was trash because they were incapable of feeling any kind of normal human emotion, real people didn't do that. He hated them. He hated them so much. He became aware that the muggle was screaming, he half expected to see Rodolphus with his wand out but the Death Eater had his arms folded and was just watching with a malicious smile. Brutus didn't remember saying the curse but it was happening, it was so easy, you just had to hate it, to wish it to suffer and it did deserve to suffer because muggles were bad._

_"Alright, you can stop now," Rodolphus said and Brutus jerked his wrist away to end the spell, the muggle was shaking and sobbing harder. Sal still looked curious, Tommy just looked sad, "show them how to kill."_

_"P-P-Please," the muggle begged pathetically as Brutus raised his arm again._

_But he hesitated, it was one thing to hurt but he'd never killed before. Did he really want to be a murderer? Even if it was a muggle. He flicked his eyes briefly to the twins, Sal's eyes were alight with intrigue and Tommy looked distraught and desperate, Brutus could practically feel the silent screams for him to not to take the muggle's life. Brutus gripped his wand and looked back at the victim, the muggle was going to die anyway as he deserved so Brutus wasn't doing anything but prolonging the thing's miserable existence. _

_But still he hesitated. He didn't want to kill. He didn't._

_"Too weak to take a life?" Rodolphus taunted and Brutus tightened the grip on his wand, silently begging for some miracle to get him out of the situation, "its alright, if you don't want to do it then I'll just find someone else to demonstrate killing to them. Hmm... your brother is an Auror, isn't he? Killing blood traitors has always been my favorite, I killed his mother so it'd be nice to take him out too. Should kill your father too, then I'd have the complete set, wouldn't I?"_

_"Don't hurt them," Brutus whispered but he wasn't sure if he even heard his own voice, his wand hand shook and he squeezed shut his eyes. He had to protect them, he had to. Even if it meant taking a life. It was just a muggle. Just a muggle, "Avada Kedavra."_

_There was a surge of power. Even through his closed eyes he saw the flash of green and the sobbing was silenced. When he opened there was a corpse lying where the muggle had been._

* * *

Scorpius was starting to wonder how he could ever have been looking forward to duel, Varanian's training was unrelentingly exhausting. They'd been at it for hours, Scorpius was sure he had bruises from colliding with the ground in his dodging attempts, he was breathless from the exertion. Sometimes Varanian had stopped to talk to him as if they were ending the exercise before launching another attack just when he was starting to relax, he'd asked for a break several times and Varanian just insisted that attackers wouldn't give him a break.

Scorpius was immensely frustrated by the never-ceasing cycle of attacks, his mind was stuck on dodge as he ducked and dived. He'd starting to make sure to keep an eye on Varanian's disgustingly scarred hand as an indication of which direction the next attack was going, so he'd know whether to weave or left or right or duck or sometimes jump if it was aimed as his legs or feet, which seemed a really odd place to try to disarm someone. Varanian in turn seemed to try trick him be deliberately making it look like he was going to attack in a certain direction before changing it at the last second, that got Scorpius for awhile but he got better at recognizing the last second changes and better at altering his direction at the last second.

"Okay, let's take a break," Varanian announced but Scorpius wasn't going to allow himself to be lulled into a false sense of security again, he kept his eyes on the wand as he waited for next attack, "I'm serious, Scorpius."

"Of course you are," Scorpius snapped sarcastically, watching attentively as Varanian moved over to the table and put down the wand. He allowed himself to relax for a fraction of a second as Varanian went over to the wall and retrieved two bottles of water, he offered one to Scorpius that he gratefully took and started gulping it down, "thanks."

"You did well. I know its not fun."

"No you don't."

"My grandfather did that to me all the time, as soon as I could walk he taught me to dodge to prepare me to duel. Its not fun but effective."

"Why did he want you to know how to duel?" Scorpius wondered with a scowl as he watched Varanian staring at his hand as he flexed it, sipping the water with his other hand.

"I was an accident, my parents were in their forties and already had four kids in their early twenties, everyone in my family was either an Auror, Auror in-training, a retired Auror or an Auror who died in the War. My grandfather had been forced to retire due to his age and injuries so he was often stuck watching me, he decided to make the best of the situation and prepare me for my future career as an Auror that I was expected to do. His favorite saying was that you can't protect children, only prepare them."

"Was he mad that you didn't want to be an Auror?"

"I did want to be an Auror," Varanian protested looking slightly offended that Scorpius could have suggested such a thing and he paused before continued, "but I met Ethel in Hogwarts and we wanted to start a family, I wanted to be with her and be around to see our kids grow up. My parents were dead by the time I started Hogwarts, everyone else was dead before I graduated. Its not the safest career. Stupid I guess. I've applied to be an Auror since... the Second Wizarding War ended, every year but I keep getting rejected. I did try. And now I'm a fugitive and apparently the Shadow Master so Grandfather would be _very_ proud."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius offered but Varanian said nothing for a moment before he put down his water.

"Come on, I should get you back. Tomorrow should be better."


	27. II: Fools and Madmen

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, Lucifersdaughter and SDF for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** This chapter is mostly flashback, hope you don't mind. Will get back to Jack and James and Malfoys next chapter, I promise and Bellatrix's view on her children too for people who wanted to see that_

**_Questions:_**

**_So does Sal have a thing for Brutus or something?_**  
_Yes she does_

**_Will any of the Potters be visiting the Manor?_**  
_Yes_

* * *

Scorpius was starting to enjoy his suspension, his parents had agreed to let him stay with his Aunt Daphne and she left him in the care of her one old forgetful house-elf while she worked which made it even easier to slip away to meet up with Varanian. She didn't get up until after midday which meant they could utilize the mornings, she worked for the afternoon and was back in the evening where they would spend time together.

Varanian said his Trace should be undetectable by the Fidelius Charm but wasn't sure if he'd cast it strong enough and so didn't want to risk it, however that didn't mean he couldn't practice spells. The second day he gave Scorpius a list he'd drawn up of spells to use when dueling, the further down the list the more difficult and he probably would be unable to cast them until he was older but he still wanted Scorpius to learn them. Some of the spells had stars by them, those Varainan insisted he never use inside of school and Scorpius realized why, they all caused serious physical injury and the Acutus Curse was one of the ones listed.

He had Scorpius pronouncing them and learning the wand movements, at first just going over them like he would do in the classroom and then trying to do them during dodging sessions because he had to be able to dodge and attack. It was harder than Scorpius had thought, he'd improved his ability to dodge but having time to get an attack back in edgeways while avoiding the next spell proved to be quite difficult but it made him truly understand the point about your wand grip, you didn't have time to stop for pinpoint accuracy, it needed to be fluid and fast while still working. Even when he did succeed, Varanian would tell him that his wand movement wasn't correct enough or that his wand was aimed too inaccurately and would miss him.

Since the majority of his potential attackers would probably be using non-verbal spells, Varanian also thought it was important that Scorpius learn to recognize wand movements so he could act accordingly. They had exercises where Varanian would do a wand movement for a spell - without casting it - and Scorpius had to recognize which one, this was also difficult as you had to remember them all and there were so many spells. Varanian also reluctantly showed him the wand movements for the Unforgivable Curses because they were spells that Scorpius would very desperately need to avoid, he categorized all the spells as 'yellow' and 'red' for him. Red spells were more dangerous physically harming or unable to be blocked by defensive spells and yellow spells were capable of being blocked by defensive spells and aimed more to disarm rather than injure or kill.

Just when Scorpius thought he was starting to get the hang of recognizing the wand movements, Varanian started changing it up by making the movements more subtle and less pronounced or having Scorpius try to figure it out while dodging a bottle that Varanian had hexed into attacking him as he needed his wand free for the spell movements. It certainly was a challenging, Scorpius wasn't used to struggling so much with anything aside from the Patronus Charm but unlike that he was actually making progress. Varanian also taught him the best place to keep his wand to draw it faster and advised he get a wand holster, he also had Scorpius practice drawing it quickly which was frustratingly dull but fractions of a second could make all the difference.

It wasn't perfect, Scorpius did prefer his classes and he thought he rather preferred Professor Ashain as a teacher. Varanian was brutally blunt and sparing of his praise, he was incredibly focused though and Scorpius had yet to see him smile. It wasn't hard to see why people didn't like him, Scorpius still wasn't entirely sure how he felt about the former headmaster but he did feel a strong sense of accomplishment after every session and incredibly proud of the slivers of praise that he did get. At least Varanian answered any questions he had honestly and kept him in the loop about his research on the Shadows.

"Think I'll be good enough to kill the Shadow Master?" Scorpius asked after a particularly grueling session, sitting down on the chair and taking the bottle of the water that Varanian offered him.

"You want to kill the Shadow Master?" Varanian questioned as he sat on the bed and sipped his own water.

"Yes. I'm going to avenge my grandfather," Scorpius told him without thinking, he hadn't said that to anyone before and half-expected Varanian to call him an idiot for it and refuse to teach him anymore.

"Ethel always said revenge was for fools and madmen," Varanian offered quietly as his silvery eyes flickered briefly to the photographs on the table, "was one thing we could never agree on. As long as Shadow Master remains in a coma then your chance is as good as anyone's, if you really plan on killing someone in a coma although it doesn't seem like much of a revenge. Personally I think stopping the Shadows thus destroying any chance the Shadow Master has of succeeding would be better revenge, there's things worse than death."

"Which are we then? Fools or madmen?"

* * *

_"You-You killed him," Tommy stammered in shock, staring wide eyed at the body, "he was alive a minute ago and now he's dead. He's dead. You killed him, Brutus."_

_"That's how death works," Rodolphus snapped but tears started seeping from Tommy's eyes, "and its not a him, its a thing."_

_"His name was David, he just said so and now he's dead. He is dead. He was a person and now he's dead."_

_"It wasn't a person! It was a muggle."_

_"He looks like a person, he spoke like a person, he cried like a person and he died like a person. He was human, the only difference was he couldn't do magic, he didn't deserve to die, he didn't do anything wrong, Rodolphus and you made Brutus kill him."_

_"Crucio!" Rodolphus roared and Tommy was thrown onto the ground again, screaming his impossibly high-pitched scream as his body was wracked with pain, "how dare you defend muggle filth?!"_

_"How dare you torture Lord Voldemort's children," Sal retorted and Rodolphus let Tommy go for a moment to glare at her._

_"Brutus, torture her," Rodolphus stated dismissively and cursed Tommy again._

_"I'm not hurting a child," Brutus growled forcing himself from his shocked stupor at having killed a man._

_"They're fourteen!"_

_"I'm not hurting a bloody child! And I'm not watching you do it either."_

_Brutus' arm snaked out and he grabbed Rodolphus' wrist, twisting it to force him to drop his wand and freeing Tommy from the Cruciatus Curse. Rodolphus snatched his arm away furiously, his eyes were burning with rage and Brutus felt a flicker of fear but he was steadfast. He wasn't going to hurt the twins and he wasn't going to watch Rodolphus do it either, he knew Rodolphus would probably call him a hypocrite after what he did have some set of morals and he wasn't going to let them be tortured. Not that day. Not in front of him. The muggle may have deserved to suffer but Tommy and Sal didn't._

_"Would you rather take their place?! You ugly half-blood! Crucio!"_

_It happened so fast. Rodolphus flourished his wand and Brutus didn't try to fight it but Sal did, out of the corner of his eye he saw her throw out her hand and felt himself being propelled through air. He slammed into the wall and fell back onto the ground, the red jet from Rodolphus' wand hit the door instead and smashed it off its hinges. Sal's face drained of what little color she had as Rodolphus angrily aimed his wand at her instead, non-verbally using the Torture Curse. Brutus started to scramble to his feet but it was Tommy who reacted faster._

_"ENOUGH!" Tommy screamed so high-pitched that it hurt Brutus' ears._

_Rodolphus was knocked backwards from Sal at the same time as the windows were blown out, revealing a raging storm blowing outside. The wind howled and thunder growled, rain was being pelted in through the gaps where the windows had been and the drapes were being torn to shreds from the force of the wind. It was so dark outside except for the blinding flashes from lightning. Tommy had been momentarily forgotten but he was now on his feet, shaking with a look of fury that Brutus hadn't seen on him before, his unblinking eyes glittered darkly and miniature lightning bolts seemed to be dancing up and down his skin. Brutus shivered._

_"HOW DARE YOU HURT MY SISTER!" Tommy yelled over the roar of the thunder, raising his arm as he did so and Rodolphus raised magically into the air with it, "you want to see people inflict pain?! Let me show you!"_

_Tommy clenched his fist and Rodolphus started screaming as his body convulsed violently in the air, when Brutus looked back to Tommy he saw the boy was on fire, golden flames lapped against him but didn't seem to be harming him. Huge bolts of lightning were erupting from him, blasting out at every angle against the walls, floor and ceiling, scattering splinters as it left great gaping holes. Brutus yanked Sal up off the floor to stop her from being struck by one of the bolts, she was watching her brother's bursts of power with awe-filled eyes._

_"I've got to learn how to do that," Sal breathed or maybe Brutus imagined it, it was hard to hear over the deep roaring thunder that was becoming mixed with Rodolphus' screams._

_The floor started to shake and he kept his grip on Sal to try steady her, the floorboards were rolling like waves in the ocean and then started tearing themselves up in places, cracks were shooting up the rippling walls and spreading to the ceiling. Brutus was afraid, he didn't think Tommy had control anymore. He hugged Sal protectively to him as the floor before them was ripped away, the chunks of wood and splinters were speeding around the room, either magically or caught up in the fierce wind battering against them, Brutus was having trouble staying upright as it stabbed at him._

_And then a shrill sound sliced through the storm. Tommy was laughing. His laugh was jerky at first but the incredibly high-pitched sound became more stable, which only sounded more unstable, it was maniacal and demented. The laugh of a madman. Tommy throw out his arms and more bolts of lightning shot out, these ones didn't dissipate after punching through the walls but rather stayed, like jagged tentacles from Tommy's glowing body and cut through the fabric of the building._

_The roof was peeled away, the rain felt like it was slicing his skin and the gush of wind did actually knock Brutus off of his feet that time but he managed to pull himself and Sal into a sitting position. He eyed the ruin of the door and saw the corridor was receiving a similar treatment, the floorboards were bending so much they were breaking and the walls were splintering from the cracks. All the while Tommy was still laughing and Rodolphus was still screaming, bolts of lightning were jabbing through Rodolphus' still seizing body. Brutus knew he should do something but he was scared that trying to stop Tommy would make it worse._

_"Stop this, Tommy!" Brutus cried over the deafening torrent of power and chaos all around him but Tommy didn't seem to hear, "STOP!"_

_He wasn't sure if Tommy heard him or not but Tommy's laugh became a shrill scream and he clutched at his head so much it seemed like he was clawing at his own scalp, the power only intensified and waves of light and lightning shot out from the boy. The golden flames blazed, so bright that Brutus couldn't bear to look anymore and he turned away. The roar of thunder, power, wind, rain and screaming all seemed to merge into one unbearably ear-splitting vociferous sound._

_Silence._

_Brutus risked a glance back to the ruin of the room, the roof was still gone but the wind had died down, it was still raining but only gently. The tops of the walls had splintered so much it looked like rows of dagger-like teeth, there were varying sized holes and snakey lines of missing wall. Chunks of floor were missing revealing the wooden beams beneath the floorboards, the floorboards left were all jagged at the edges and the floor that was left was littered with debris, splinters, bits of plaster and wood. It looked a wreck._

_And in the center of it was Rodolphus, his body was in heap like it had just been dumped onto the ground, his limbs were all twisted at impossible angles. His clothes were ripped and torn, there were gaping gushing wounds all over but he was alive, shuddering and shaking but seeming unable to move. Tommy stood before him like a shadow, untouched by the destruction he'd caused, he'd never looked stronger or more like the son of Voldemort. His dark flinty eyes were cold as he gazed down on Rodolphus._

_"Is that what you wanted?" Tommy asked calmly, Rodolphus whimpered but didn't attempt to answer, "you wanted to see pain and you wanted to kill, you've seen one now let's see the other. Let me try that."_

_Tommy pointed his finger at Rodolphus and a ball of flame started to manifest above the Death Eater, it was only the size of a Golden Snitch at first but it started to grow. It was like a snowball pushed down a snowy hill, gorging itself on excess snow to grow only instead of snow it was fire and it rolled over in the same place. Growing and growing, tendrils of flames snaking around each other and flaring, Brutus could feel the heat from it. It didn't seem effected by the rain and reminded Brutus of the sun, it grew so big it was actually larger than its future victim's body. Brutus wondered again whether he should do something to help his fellow Death Eater but then he wasn't fond of Rodolphus, if anyone deserved to die then it was him and Brutus was disturbingly curious over whether Tommy would do it._

_"Not really what I had in mind," Tommy mused as he looked up at the fiery ball burning above their heads, "but it should kill you anyway so I guess magic just wants you to die a more painful death than what I wanted, even magic hates you for being the monster that you are."_

_"Pl-Please," Rodolphus begged weakly before he burst into tears, Tommy looked stunned as the Death Eater sobbed pathetically, "pl-please, I d-don't w-want t-t-to d-die. D-Don't h-h-hurt m-me, Tommy, pl-please d-don't h-hurt me. Pl-please."_

_"Shut up," Sal spat and it took Brutus a second to realize she was on her feet, she launched a kick at Rodolphus and the man yelped in pain, Sal smirked, "not so fun when you're the one being kicked, is it? And you actually have the nerve to beg for your life? What happened to begging being the most pathetic thing a witch or wizard can do and deserving to suffer worse for lowering yourself to such standards? You're going to die and you don't even have the guts to face death, you're the weak one."_

_"P-Please, h-have m-m-mercy."_

_"You don't deserve mercy."_

_"Sal, stop..." Tommy said and Brutus realized his eyes were watering as he blinked back tears as he lowered his arm._

_"Kill him."_

_"I-I can't," Tommy whispered tearfully and the ball of flames vanished, leaving them all in semi-darkness as he hugged his arms around himself and backed against the wall, "I was wrong, he's just a person. Hurt and in pain and crying like us. I can't kill him."_

_"He deserves to die!" Sal snapped looking somewhere between angry and upset, "he's cruel and sadistic, he tortures us. Think of everything he's done, he deserves to die. Kill him."_

_"What have I done?" Tommy cried as he choked back tears._

_"You've become a Master! Kill him and we'll be free, don't you want to be free?!"_

_"I've become the thing I hate the most, I've become just as bad as he is. I don't want to be a Master, I don't want to hurt and kill and destroy. I don't want to be free if it means I'll be evil, I don't want to be evil. Even he is a person, I can't... I can't kill him. Never again. I'm not doing that ever again."_

_"You're being insane, Tommy! Kill him!"_

_"No, Sal."_

_"Then I will!"_

_"NO!"_

_On Tommy's shrill shriek of 'no' magic burst out of him again, a pulse of light that shot outwards and knocked Sal off her feet. He clutched at his head and more waves of light were cast out, Brutus watched in amazement as the floorboards were slotted back in place and repaired, the roof slipped back from wherever it had been. The cracks in the wall were filled, the bits of wall sped back into place in the holes and even fragments of glass from outside reformed in the windows. In a matter of minutes the room was back completely to how it had been before, the only evidence of any kind of destruction being the mangled body of Rodolphus._

_No sooner had Brutus thought that then the light jumped on Rodolphus, like jaws clamping down and engulfing the man, Brutus heard the snap of bones before the light receded. He blinked in surprise, Rodolphus' wounds were healed, the blood vanished and the clothes repaired, even his limbs were no longer at the wrong angles. Tommy looked utterly drained though, his legs trembled before his body thudded to the ground. His eyelids flickered before closing shut, meeting Sal's identical eyes for just a moment, she looked at her brother like he'd committed an act of the utmost betrayal.  
_

_"You'll pay for that, I promise," Rodolphus growled, eying Tommy with a look of loathing as he snatched up his wand and swiped away his tears as he got to his feet, the Death Eaters that hung around stormed into the room and Sal hung her head hopelessly._


	28. II: The Lunch

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, Lucifersdaughter, Guest, x-Laurenne-Elice-Black- x and SDF for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_So this is how Brutus became so closer to them?_**  
_Yeah, he's sort of close to them because he talks to them when he's guarding them whereas the others (except Rabastan) didn't and he was nice to them whereas the others (except Rabastan) weren't but he did try to protect them and its not something Sal or Tommy ever forgot. Sal resolves to protect him to repay the favor which ultimately leads to him becoming a Soul Eater and Tommy/Calderon resolves to help Atticus Ashain when he meets him later on in life because its what Brutus would want_

_**Author's Note:** I am sorry this chapter took so long, I'm on a training course thing right now and its cutting into my writing time a bit but I am trying my best, just bear with me and updates should be more usual when I get used to working around it, this week's been a particularly busy week on top of that so I do apologize. Also I know I said Jack would be back this chapter but it was longer than I thought so I'm splitting it, he will be in next chapter though. By the way, is anyone wondering how Michael's doing back at Hogwarts?  
_

* * *

"Hey, there's my favorite nephew," his Aunt Daphne greeted him and ruffled his hair childishly as Scorpius returned home from his morning session with Varanian, she would think it was strange if he wasn't there when he left for work in the afternoon, "have a nice walk?"

"Yep," Scorpius answered shortly and the brunette she smiled, she looked a lot like his mother when she smiled.

"Its good you're not afraid to get out there, just stay within visual distance of the house."

"Will do."

"Your parents should be here in about half an hour or so don't wander too much."

"What? My parents are coming?" Scorpius questioned in surprise.

"Didn't you bother reading your mail before you took off?" Aunt Daphne wondered raising an eyebrow, "they're picking you up for lunch today."

"But I... I had plans."

"Sorry Scorpius, you'll have to reschedule the absolute nothing you do all day."

"I..." Scorpius started to protested but trailed off, he couldn't very well say that he was planning on meeting a fugitive in just over an hour and he was eager to get back to Varanian, "I guess its okay."

"Grand," Aunt Daphne grinned and ruffled his hair again, he managed to keep his irritation off his face, he thought he was a little too old to have his hair ruffled. She slipped a small flask into her bag before heading to the door to get fireplace in the other room, "see you later than, Scorpius."

"See you later."

Scorpius went over to the pile of mail and saw that sure enough was a letter from his parents with the plans to pick him up for lunch, it was a good thing they'd told Aunt Daphne about it too or he might not have noticed the letter, he hadn't been expecting mail after all. It did worry him though, he shouldn't be around his family in case they got possessed, he could lose his life and they could lose their soul which was much worse, it was for their own protection as much as his.

On top of that, how was he supposed to communicate to Varanian that he couldn't make it? They didn't have a way of communicating, they arranged the time and meeting place for the next session when Scorpius was disapparated back in person. He knew the address of Varanian's Fidelius hideout but none of the fireplaces were keyed into the Floo Network, an owl would take would too long and he wasn't sure it would be able to find him anyway. He decided he would just have to leave a note at the meeting place and hope no one else came across it, he took a spare a piece of parchment and scribbled a quick note.

_Can't meet you, lunch with parents. Usual time, usual place tomorrow, hopefully? - S_

It was short but he and he didn't write his name but he hoped Varanian would get it and understand, it was being in left in a public place so he didn't want to give too much away in case others came across it. Still feeling worried and oddly guilty, he quickly headed out.

While the Greengrasses were a pureblood family, they didn't have a manor like the Malfoys did nor were they as wealthy, they weren't poor by any means but they didn't have enough to live off like the Malfoys were doing. Not that it was a good thing the Malfoys had no work, not working and living purely off your family's money was how pureblood families lost their once incredible wealth or at least their once expensive homes forcing newer generations to work for a living, as was the case in the Greengrasses, Blacks and even the Potters.

The Malfoys had no choice though, they were still looked upon lowly and no one wanted to hire anyone with the last name Malfoy, no one cared they'd defected from the Death Eaters only that they'd once been on the wrong side. The only jobs people would willing give them was menial work such as a floorsweeper or cleaner - things his grandfather considered 'house-elf work' - which his father refused to except, they did still have standards and they weren't _that_ desperate for the money. As evidence of how bad the Malfoy name was, his mother had had a job before she married his father. After becoming Mrs Astoria Malfoy, her boss had suddenly had to let her go because they couldn't afford to pay her anymore. A week later they'd replaced her.

His aunt's house was at the end of the street, a quaint detached house with murky yellow walls and a green roof. Scorpius went outside into the muggy street, while not an official Wizarding town it was almost completely occupied by witches and wizards and their families so he considered it relatively safe from being kidnapped by muggles. On the downside though, most of the village were aware of Varanian and if they saw him then Aurors would be on the way in minutes, apparently it was law that Aurors could commandeer any fireplace on the Floo Network if they needed to so traveling to the village wouldn't be an issue. It was why they met on the outskirts of the village, there was a small thicket of trees where they usually met.

Scorpius was still worried about people coming across it as wedged the small note between two extremely close branches, he hoped Varanian would see it and understand. He was feeling guilty as he returned to the house, like he was letting everyone down. He sat miserably in the front room, staring at the fireplace in wait for his parents. It was a musty room, dark and gloomy which might have had something to do with the thick drapes that his aunt tended to keep closed. It suited his mood.

It didn't take too long before the flames in the fireplace became emerald, Scorpius took out his wand and quickly ran over to the door as Varanian had told him to do if people were arriving by Floo in case it wasn't who he thought and then he was prepared to run or disarm or both. You had the upper hand because you knew the territory and the newcomer didn't, plus you were ready while they would likely need a second to get their bearings and draw their wand. It was his father though. Scorpius pocketed his wand before his father had noticed it was out, he smiled when he saw Scorpius and went over to hug him. His mother didn't emerge from the fireplace.

"Where's Mother?" Scorpius asked as his father started to say he was pleased to see him as he pulled away.

"I'm just picking you up, you're coming back home for lunch," his father explained.

"I could have Flooed myself over."

"You're a bit young for that."

Scorpius bit back the urge to say that he could've done it himself when he was four, he didn't know whether to be more angry or hurt that they still considered him a pathetic weak little child. _Parents are like that. _He realized his wrist was burning again and tried to shake it off as his father told him to go to first, he Flooed home effortlessly because it wasn't difficult and he wasn't an idiot. He was squeezed into a hug by his mother almost as soon as he'd stepped out.

"I missed you," his mother told him gently before she pulled away smiling, "having a good time at Aunt Daph's?"

"Yes," Scorpius answered vaguely, hoping she didn't ask a lot of questions about what he did when his aunt was asleep or at work. She opened her mouth to reply but he was saved by his father's arrival, "so what's for lunch?"

"Not yet, we have to wait for our guest."

"We're having a guest over?"

"Yes," his father said as another man stepped out of the fireplace, Scorpius recognized him even as his father spoke, "Harry Potter."

"Sorry I'm late, I was just finishing up some stuff," Harry Potter apologized and Scorpius tried very hard to succeed in keeping his composure, why was Harry Potter eating dinner with them?

"Now we can begin," his mother said with a nervous cheerfulness and forced smile, "we can head through to the dining room or would you like a quick tour first while the house-elves set up, Mr Potter?"

"Its alright, I have enough familiarity with Malfoy Manor."

His mother lost her smile and his father suddenly looked incredibly awkward, he looked away from Potter and shifted uncomfortably as his eyes became glued to an uninteresting section of floor. Scorpius scowled slightly, he hadn't known Potter had been to his house before and he had a feeling he was missing a lot more than that. His mother swallowed nervously before replacing her smile.

"To the dining room it is then," his mother announced and led them through to the dining room.

One of the house-elves was setting up the silverware, they were using some of their finer dishes despite the fact not one of the four of them were dressed to match, Potter had clearly come from work, Scorpius was wearing the leather jacket over casual clothing chosen for its ability to not impede his movements in case of dodge exercises and his parents were dressed in an ordinary fashion. No one commented on this though, they just sat down at the table, Scorpius sat beside his father and opposite Potter while his mother sat beside Potter and opposite his father. There was no place setting for his grandmother.

"Isn't Grandmother joining us?" Scorpius asked both curiously and worriedly.

"No," his parents answered almost in perfect unison.

The silence was so thick that it was smothering, the only sound was the house-elf setting up their plates and cutlery and others bringing out the food. Scorpius was uncomfortably reminded of how awkward the first meal together after Lyra's death had been and the first one after he'd returned after being abducted, there had to be something to be said and some reason Potter was there but no one was saying it.

Potter was actually the first one to strike up conversation, asking Scorpius about his Quidditch which made him feel the awkwardness of the adults as he was reminded about the Potter boys' upset about not getting the positions they wanted, James had outright accused Scorpius of cheating - which he had undoubtedly told his father about - and Albus falling out with Michael over him getting Chaser. A horrible thought occurred to him, would Michael still be able to play Quidditch after what had happened? The guilt twisted like a barbed knife in the gut, he couldn't have cost one of his closest friends something they'd loved so much, could he?

The other adults seemed oblivious to his discomfort and all jumped on board, his father praising his flying skills and Scorpius didn't want to insist he wasn't that good in case Potter assumed James was right about him cheating, his mother spoke of his desire to be a Seeker when he was younger and Potter himself talked about his own Quidditch experience, he was the only living person who could claim he knew what it was like to be on the team in the first year like Scorpius had been. The conversation moved onto his classes though, for whatever reason Potter seemed interested in his life. Scorpius was careful about what he said, he didn't want his parents to know about his recent struggles with Astronomy or Grant's treatment of him because it would just make them think even less of him but he didn't want to lie so he just was vague about those particular subjects.

"How's the Patronus Charm coming along?" Potter asked just when Scorpius was done praising Professor Ashain's Defense Against the Dark Arts lessons.

"Not good," Scorpius was forced to mumble reluctantly in answer but he couldn't dodge a correct question so his parents would have to know, their opinion would have just slid further, "I can't get anything silver to come. But Professor Ashain was helping me with it, the next lesson... if I hadn't been... you know, suspended."

"Don't get your hopes up, you are a Malfoy after all," his father commented jokily and Scorpius had a feeling he was trying to make him feel better about not getting it but it just made him feel worse, the Patronus Charm was the only known thing - excluding Calderon - that could fight Specters, it was important if he was helping Varanian stop the Shadows. He had to get it. The hurt must have shown on his face because Potter's next words were kind.

"Its a difficult spell for any wizard, let alone a twelve year old so don't worry about not getting it yet," Potter offered and Scorpius felt even more uncomfortable, was he really missing out on training to fight the Shadows because of this? Another horrible thought struck him, was Potter here because he knew about Varanian?

"How's your work going?" Scorpius questioned of Potter before he could stop himself, "finally realized that Varanian is innocent and are hunting the actual Shadow Master now?"

"Scorpius, I know that's what you believe-"

"Its not about what I believe, its about the truth! And the truth is that he is innocent, he was possessed and he didn't _want_ to do those things! Did you ever think it was horrible for him? Losing control like that, having to watch himself do bad things and being in pain from trying to fight it off, it wasn't fun for him. You've destroyed his life and he was innocent and that's not fair or right!"

"Innocent people don't run," his mother pointed out with an almost scalding 'don't be rude' look.

"Whether he's innocent or not, the fact remains is that we _can't_ prove or disprove anything without him in custody or at least we're unlikely too," Potter said firmly.

"Maybe he had a good reason for going on the run! He's not stupid. Why can't you just believe me? All this time wasted ruining an innocent man's life and the actual Shadow Master is out there causing chaos, I know it can't be easy but wasting time on Varanian is just making things worse for everyone."

"We are still investigating other leads while we pursue Varanian, I assure you."

"Other leads? Like what?"

"Look, I didn't come here to discuss the Varanian situation."

"Okay," Scorpius sighed, both disappointed that Potter wasn't going to say anything noteworthy that he could report to Varanian and relieved that if he _wasn't_ there for Varanian then he probably didn't know about Scorpius meeting him daily, "am I allowed to ask why you're here?"

"Yes you are. Yours and James' suspension ends on Monday, I came over here today to discuss arrangements. And I also need to talk to you about the whole situation in general, causing grievous injury like that in the course of a duel is illegal," Potter pointed out seriously and Scorpius felt fear grip his heart so tightly that he could barely breathe at the thought of being imprisoned again, "relax, I'm not taking you to prison considering the circumstances as it was an accident that Michael Sanford got hurt and you both are underage. But it would be remiss if I just allowed you and James to go back as the situation stands, you could seriously injure each other or someone else and you don't want that to happen, do you?"

"No, I never meant for Michael to get hurt, I-"

"I've talked to James about leaving you alone and he has promised he will, if he stays away from you will you promise to stay away from him?"

"Yes," Scorpius promised, James was the one who started things anyway.

"And you also need to not retaliate if he starts on you, go straight to a teacher and do not under any circumstances engage in a duel with him, especially to not use harmful you understand?"

"I understand."

"Good. I'm trusting you, Scorpius, don't let me down," Potter nodded looking slightly relieved, "so arrangements for Monday..."

* * *

_Bellatrix scanned around the rather bland looking house, it was almost hard to believe that her son had destroyed it not too long ago because he'd done such an incredibly job repairing it. She did believe it though, she'd always known Tommy was a powerful wizard, how could he not be when the Greatest Sorcerer in the entire history of magic was his father? She smiled to herself as she walked, when Tommy could harness that power then his disappointments wouldn't matter and her supposed failings in parenting wouldn't matter to the Dark Lord anymore. Imagine the look on the Dark Lord's face when their son could obliterate filthy muggle towns with a wave of his hand? The thought of his approval and destruction made her excited._

_"Bella!" her husband greeted her coming from a door to the end just as she reached the door to the basement, Bellatrix tried not to roll her eyes as he smiled, "its good to see you, I-"_

_"I'm here to see my children and nothing more," Bellatrix pointed out coldly and his smile was replaced by a scowl that she promptly ignored as she opened the door, cold seeped through her from the Dementor guards but she refused to show her fear, they answered to her now, "give us some privacy."_

_The ghastly hooded figures glided out past her, she had another smug smile at the Dementors obeying her. Natural allies of the Dark Wizards they were, preferring to answer to the Dark Lord rather than to the incompetent Ministry - as any smart person would also - and were happy to aid him since his return, they'd sneaked Rodolphus and Rabastan out of Azkaban after all because the Dark Lord had use for them and now two of them had left their posts to become the guards the twins. It wasn't an ideal situation that she wanted to put them through but it was necessary considering what Tommy - and possibly Sal - were capable of._

_"Mother!" Tommy and Sal cried in unison as she descended the steps, there was a random explosion of light from behind them but Bellatrix decided to let it slide that time, she hadn't seen them since the summer after all._

_She stopped at the bottom of the stairs to study her smiling children, it was the part where they would have hugged if they had had any other father. But they didn't, they were the Dark Lord's children and she couldn't risk doing anything to them to make them weak and hugs would encourage that because it would have encouraged them to rely too much on other people and not be smart or strong enough to think for themselves. The Dark Lord didn't want weak idiots for children, he wanted them smart and powerful so they could be an asset to him. Bellatrix didn't disagree, there were too many incompetent or semi-competent Death Eaters as it were, the Dark Lord deserved better in his children and Bellatrix didn't want them to disappoint._

_"I heard about what you did, Tommy," Bellatrix pointed out to her younger child and his expression became one of fear, randomly the walls changed color from gray to blue but she let it slide again as she smiled at him._

_"I'm sorry," Tommy apologized tearfully as he hung his head while Sal shot him a dark look._

_"You shouldn't be sorry, that kind of power is something to be proud of. All that destruction and torturing Rodolphus was brilliant, your father even thought it was impressive."_

_"He did?" Sal wondered in surprise._

_"Shut up Sal, I'm talking to your brother!" Bellatrix hissed angrily at having been interrupted, glaring at the girl before turning back to Tommy and softening her voice once more, "it was amazing, you just need to learn to control that and you'll be brilliant just as I always knew you would be."_

_"I nearly killed him," Tommy whispered looking guilty._

_"You should have killed him! You're the Dark Lord's child, you have the right to kill anyone beneath you if you have a reason or if you don't have a reason."_

_"Tommy stopped me from killing him," Sal pointed out moodily._

_"Shut up Sal! I'm talking to your brother!"_

_"But killing is bad," Tommy said firmly, "and he is your husband."  
_

_"No it isn't, there's a lot of filth in the world that needs eradicating. Killing gets rid of them and proves your strength."_

_"Why does Father only target England?" Sal questioned curiously and Bellatrix actually felt like slapping her, "I mean, there's other countries, bigger, wealthier and with more wizards so why only attack England? In the past countries have worked together to defeat Dark Witches or Wizards so even if he takes England then the other countries could unite to stop him from spreading out. England's a small country with an even smaller wizarding community, it wouldn't be difficult to be overwhelmed, it doesn't matter how powerful or talented you are, there's only so many you can take on at once before you're overwhelmed. I-"_

_"DON'T YOU DARE QUESTION YOUR FATHER!" _

_"I'm not, I'm just saying that he could do better. I have ideas if I could talk to him, I think there's some things he's overlooking-"_

_"NO! The Dark Lord is right and you are wrong, now shut up!" Bellatrix roared, outraged Sal could speak that way but was quite satisfied when the girl backed away several feet and she could calm down as she turned back to Tommy. _

_He was looking healthier than he had his entire life at Azkaban although still not as healthy as she would have liked, he was getting there though. She reached out her hands to draw his exposed arm to her, where she'd given him the Dark Mark and insisted that it always be showing, they seemed to be obeying as his sleeve had rolled back specifically to allow it to be visible. She idly traced the scar on his wrist - it was very fitting - and glanced back to his face, he didn't look exactly like his father had when he was younger as she'd hoped but rather a mixture of his features and typical Black features, she rather liked that. He'd grow up to be handsome if he could ever shake the toll Azkaban had taken on his appearance._

_"Why do the Dementors have to guard us?" Tommy asked after a minute and Bellatrix blinked in surprise but didn't stop tracing the Dark Mark._

_"Its not safe without them, they repress magic and you need your magic repressed until you learn to control it. Its for your own safety, Tommy, you could accidentally hurt yourself and we don't want that."_

_"Then why have us tortured?" _

_"So you can learn control."_

_"Why not just send us to Hogwarts like everyone else gets to go to?" Sal pleaded and Tommy shared her look of desperation, Bellatrix actually felt like slapping her, "Draco gets to go, why shouldn't we?"_

_"I SAID SHUT UP SALAZIA!" Bellatrix snapped feeling furious again, "and you can't go to Hogwarts, fourteen is too old to start even if your brother was remotely stable enough! You'll never go to Hogwarts, ever so don't waste my time by asking again! And Draco is going because he has an important task to complete that the Dark Lord has ordered him to complete."_

_"Why can't we be given tasks to complete? I could do it."_

_"Neither of you can cast a spell if your life depended on it! How do you expect to do anything of value until you can both control your magic?!"_

_"I don't think its possible to control it, Mother," Tommy offered._

_"It is!" Bellatrix shrieked, angry at his lack of belief and stormed up the steps, she didn't feel like speaking to them when both of them were being difficult and insane, "you just need to try harder! You're both lazy slackers and that's why you can't do magic! Try harder!"_

_She waited until the Dementors were back in the room before stalking out and slamming the door behind her. _


	29. II: In the Wrong

_**Thanks to:** Aya Diefair and Lucifersdaugther for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Sorry for the double update last chapter, I uploaded the wrong version the first time and the right version the second time so if you didn't read the second version then you might want to go back and read that because it has the flashback with Bellatrix and her children. Sorry for being confusing, like I said its been a rough week and I usually click preview and skim through it to make sure it uploaded and that its the right chapter but the one time I don't that happens, sorry again_

* * *

"And I'm sorry for not being able to meet you," Scorpius apologized after he finished explaining to Varanian about lunch with his parents and Potter the next day, back in Varanian's hideout, "did you get my message?"

"You don't need to apologize," Varanian told him dismissively, he was looking particularly tired, "spending time with your family isn't a bad thing and Potter's a gray soul plus Head Auror, Shadows wouldn't have attacked. And yes, I did get your message and it got me thinking about our lack of ways to communicate so I spend the night working on it. Hold out your hand."

"Okay," Scorpius agreed holding out his hand and Varanian hesitated for a moment before slipping a gold ring on his finger, it looked like a wedding band and was slightly overlarge for his small child fingers. Varanian withdrew his wand and waved it over the ring, immediately it shrunk to snugly fit his finger much to Scorpius' confusion, "we're going to communicate with a wedding ring?"

"Yes, I need something that we could both keep on us always that I could work this magic on. Watch," Varanian explained as he took another ring out of his pocket, almost identical to the one Scorpius had been given except larger to match Varanian's adult fingers. He tapped the ring with his wand and Scorpius felt his own ring suddenly feeling hot, not hot enough to burn but not comfortable, "take it off and look at the inside."

Curiously, Scorpius took off the ring and peered at the inside. Written on the inside of the ring was the address of Varanian's hideout with 'basement' written after it, he was sure they hadn't been there before. No sooner had he thought that that they melded into the gold and were gone, the ring becoming cold.

"If either of us tap the ring with our wand then it will heat up and give your current location, the same happens to the ring on the other's hand and only vanishes after its been read. Its mostly in case you're attacked, you should have your wand with you at all times already and never take the ring off unless you're reading it so if you just tap it then I'll know where you are and that you're in danger so I can help. I can use it to you if I'm arranging a meeting, just come to the location as soon as you can after you get it. Alternatively we can use it to send each other short messages, it you press the tip of the wand against the ring then what you say appears on the outside of the ring. Like this."

As Varanian said the last two words he pressed the tip of his wand against the ring, Scorpius felt his own heat up slightly again and glanced at it. Sure enough, 'like this' had just appeared on the band and melded back into the gold as Scorpius read them.

"A little more obvious to others but since you have to speak aloud to reply then you need to be alone anyway, first thing we do if we talk like that is make sure we're both safe to talk. Although like I said, for short messages only because rings aren't that big. And the best part? You can use this without fear of being detected by the Trace. Even though you're using magic, technically you're just using preexisting magical properties of an object which is exempt for the trace, its why underage wizards can practice flying broomsticks outside of Hogwarts, Floo, use Portkeys and so on without repercussion."

"That's cool," Scorpius admitted gazing at the ring on his hand.

"There's one more thing you should know though," Varanian told him in an extremely severe tone and Scorpius glanced back up, "if you lose that ring then I swear, I will hunt you down and kill you."

"I won't lose it," Scorpius offered slowly, not entirely sure how serious Varanian was being, "what if we need to communicate a lot of information though? Like all this you're telling me now would be difficult to tell me with the ring? Its not really a problem now but in Hogwarts it would be because it would be difficult to meet up, I can't go to Hogsmeade until next year so I'm pretty much in the grounds until holidays."

"I know but outside of meeting in person, options are limited. Using the Floo Network to communicate is too risky, conversations can be listened into by the Ministry and getting the Common Room empty isn't as easy as you would hope. At least not in my experience anyway. Besides I don't want to put the Embry's at risk by using their fireplace too much."

"What about owls?"

"Owls can be intercepted easily, the Shadows know this and target them either to stop messages or just to read them first. As an example of how easy it is, the way I got the note to you on your birthday was by intercepting another owl and just giving it that letter as well. I've been working on a spell to hide the content of messages but I still don't think its secure enough with owls and I can't make another kind of bird do it."

"Wait, another bird?" Scorpius wondered as he recalled Aurelius' vulture, "would a non-owl bird help?"

"Yes, its pretty much guaranteed safety because the Shadows wouldn't think to check... erm... other bird types, eagles or robins or hawks or magpies or crows or... chickens."

"Would a vulture do?"

"A vulture?" Varanian repeated dubiously raising a tawny eyebrow, "it could work but unless you have secretly managed to train an army of vultures or discovered a hidden talent for bird conversation then the whole other bird thing is useless."

"I haven't trained vultures but I know someone who has, if I could get him to let us use one then could that be good enough?"

"Well... yeah but how trustworthy is this person? And would they be willing to do it?"

"Well... I don't actually know, I don't really know them very well but he's reclusive so I don't think he'd tell anyone, even if he did he's kind of weird so I don't think anyone would listen, care or believe him."

"Yes because weird reclusive strangers are always the most trustworthy people," Varanian quipped sarcastically.

"Working out okay so far with you, isn't it?" Scorpius countered and he saw the vaguest hint of a smile on Varanian's face.

"Fair point."

"I don't even have to tell him I want it to communicate with you."

"Alright then, ask him if he would consider letting you use one of his vultures or his one vulture first and see his reply then we can move forward from there," Varanian said and Scorpius nodded, although he realized as he did so that he didn't know where Aurelius lived and would probably have to wait to get back to Hogwarts to ask Dom, "in case this does pan out then, I'm going to teach you those spells for the letters. I'll perfect it and we can go for it tomorrow, hope that my Fidelius Charm does indeed leave your Trace unnoticed. Who is he anyway?"

"Aurelius Ashain."

"Ashain?" Varanian cringed, "you want to rely on Ashain? How does he even have time to train vultures when he's teaching?"

"Not Professor Ashain, his first name is Atticus. Aurelius is his father. Didn't you know that?"

"They both begin with 'A' and end in 'icus', its slightly confusing and I've only had two hours of sleep. Also that's even worse."

"What do you have against Ashains?" Scorpius questioned with a scowl.

"I don't have anything against Ashains in general, except Brutus. And my distrust of Ash- Atticus - stems from the fact he was an Auror, I'm not saying he's corrupt but odds are he'll be less likely to believe any of the Aurors are if it ever comes down to it, especially if its someone he knew. I have reason to believe Corvinus - who lives with Aurelius - is linked to the Shadows, which could mean Aurelius is too."

"He isn't. He doesn't like wars or Shadows or his father's friends or his father or Death Eaters. Besides, he was worried about Professor Ashain when he was hurt, I don't think he would have let them hurt his son if he _was_ involved. I think Corvinus is linked too, I think he gave them the second Blood Rune Orb and asked for a memory to see it in use because he wanted to see it used, part of the power of the Orb if you handle it too much. He made an Unbreakable Vow with my grandfather and Aurelius was forced to be the Bonder"

"That must be why they wanted Lucius' memory of watching the Blood Runes be activated," Varanian commented thoughtfully, "the big question is, is he still involved with the Shadows or were they only using him for the Blood Rune Orb?"

"I'll ask and see if he's noticed anymore people talking to his father or anything."

"Good."

"Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course."

"Why didn't you like Brutus? Was it just because he was a Death Eater?"

"Its not much to do with being a Death Eater, we went to school together, we were in the same year at Hogwarts and... well you could say that we didn't get along," Varanian answered and Scorpius' curiosity was even more piqued.

"Why?"

"Well..." Varanian hesitated as if unsure whether to go on, he sighed heavily, "I'm a metamorphmagus as you should know by now and its an uncommon ability, people were fascinated and were forever bothering me with their stupid questions or requests, it drove me mad. Now Brutus was deformed, I'm not sure how common it is in muggles but its rare in wizards, he was deformed and ugly and people hated him for that, Slytherin's jeered when he was put in their house. He was timid and shy at first, he was bullied a lot by a lot of people, his year and older years, up to and including by his own house.

"I guess he thought being a metamorphmagus could solve his problems in Hogwarts because one day he came up to me in potions and asked how he could become a metamorphmagus so he could stop being ugly and people would like him. I angrily told him that you couldn't become a metamorphmagus, you were either born one or you weren't and called him an idiot for not knowing that like I did for pretty much everyone who asked, except for muggle-borns because they wouldn't know things like that. Unlike with everyone else though, the people around us had overheard and started laughing at him, mocking him for being forever ugly and stupid and that no one would ever like him. He fled in tears and always blamed me for it.

"He was big for his age, not overweight but just bulky and tall and at some point he realized he could fight back. They could call him ugly, he could punch them in the nose. Didn't always work with the older kids but people backed off in our year at least, moved onto bullying this weedy Slytherin instead - something Sayder- who preceded to befriend Brutus for some degree of protection. After that, Brutus became more of a bully with Sayder's urging I think, he was a great believer that being left alone wasn't good enough and people needed to pay for picking on him before.

"Brutus... kind of... started picking on me, he used to mock me for being an orphan and a shape-changing freak, trip me down stairs, beat me up - I used to hide the bruises with my ability because I didn't want the teachers to know. I had enough eventually and fought back with magic, used the body-bind curse on him and it worked a treat, I might have gone overboard with the triumphant mocking of him though. From then on it was pretty much war, he insulted me and I insulted him back, I insulted him and he insulted me back, I did something on him and he retaliated, he did something to me and I retaliated. We dueled a lot. It was pretty much the only thing Brutus was good at aside from flying and the only person in class who could ever best me in a duel and I was the only person who could best him too, we put each other in the hospital wing more than once.

"Dumbledore dragged us to his office more than once too, we came to an unspoken unanimous agreement to defend each other and deny dueling in front of him, which I'm pretty sure he saw right through though. We got better at having someone keep lookout so we wouldn't get caught by a teacher, if we got sent to the hospital wing we pretended not to know who injured us. We had the occasional truce and as we were both on the Qudditch teams, we used to always leave each other alone just before a match. I will admit dueling him so much gave me invaluable experience and a chance to properly practice what I knew though but we just really didn't like each other, he was a bullying muggle-born hater and I hated that. I still regret my behavior though, I shouldn't have been such a stuck-up jerk to him, there's always going to be people you don't like and dueling and mocking them at every opportunity is not the best way to deal with them, in fact I pretty much made him worse. We were both in the wrong. Its not good to be in the wrong."

* * *

Jack Thorne was sitting in some bar that he neither knew the name of or cared, it was as dark inside as his mood and sold plenty of cheap booze which was really the only thing he cared about. He was only annoyed that he wasn't drunk yet, being sober and having to think about things was tedious. Screw AA. He took another few gulps of his pint and leaned back lazily in his chair, it was why he liked sitting at tables rather than the bar - unless the barkeeper was an attractive woman, in this case it was a grizzled old man with only two teeth - and that people left you alone. And you had a perfect view of any attractive waitresses walking around.

His eyes weren't on women that night though, he wasn't drunk enough for that. Instead he found himself unable to look away from the photograph he always kept with him of his son, it had been taken when Michael was a baby but it wasn't what he was seeing when he looked at the picture. He just kept seeing present-day Michael with a scarred face and a missing eye, he hadn't even seen what the wound looked like but he couldn't get it off his mind. He wanted to see him, wanted to make sure he was alright. Michael would probably insist he was fine until his dying breath but that didn't make it true, he had to be hurting. Jack still wanted to be there. Michael was exactly like his mother that way though, insist they're fine no badly or obviously they're not and struggle alone rather than asking for any help while constantly helping every other idiot that crosses their paths. He was exactly like his mother in a lot of ways. Miserably Jack chugged down more his drink but found his eyes remained rested on the photograph, he couldn't even be there because it was a _magic_ school.

"This seat taken?" a familiar voice asked and Jack ripped his eyes away from the picture to the newcomer, a man with iron gray hair who seemed to have aged quite well. Jack gestured dismissively to the seat in approval and gulped down more as the man sat down, he would need it.

"How did you find me?" Jack wondered curiously as he pocketed the photo and rocked back on his chair, stretching out his legs to rest his feet on the table.

"If you didn't want to be found then you shouldn't hang around in places so swallowed by shadows," the man offered with a sly smirk and Jack rolled his eyes, wizards were weirdos.

"What do you want, John?" Jack questioned although he was almost a hundred percent certain that 'John' wasn't his real name, he had nothing else to call him by.

"You missed your last session."

"I can blow it off if I want, all you do is... what is it again? Oh yeah, _nothing_."

"I assure you, its not nothing."

"You promised me magical powers and I haven't got magical powers, you've been stringing me along for months with no result. Its a waste of my time."

"These things take time, Jack, muggle bodies can't ordinarily handle magic power coursing through them and finding a way for them to survive with it is tricky. We _could_ give you magical powers at any time but it would kill you, you'd burn up and die within a day or two, drastically less if you actually performed any magic. Patience is a virtue."

"Well its not one of mine," Jack snapped irritably and the man who called himself John tilted his head to one side, studying him with an expression that reminded him of how people looked at bugs, "maybe I don't want magical powers anymore."

"Have you forgotten how we helped you out with your issue of the people who you owed money to?"

"No."

"Good because my organization is very interested in helping out those participating in our experiments, is there anything else on your mind? That you want?" John questioned and Jack hesitated for a moment.

"My son. He was injured and they can't heal him, he's lost an eye. It was done by magic. I want you to make him better."

"Yes, I heard about that. Unfortunately it was done by a curse that _can't_ be healed magically, its designed to injure the victim worse if attempts are made."

"What kind of stupid magic system do you have?! We can heal this and that and this and that but the one freakin' thing that happens to Mikey and its beyond your powers?!"

"Even magic isn't all powerful. My niece is in a coma right now, we have been unable to revive her yet," John informed him looking saddened and Jack felt a flicker of sympathy but still thought it was stupid that magic couldn't find a way around either of their relations ailments, "we have to be patient, all things in good time including my niece's revival and possibly a way to heal your son. You just have to stay with us, there's even less chance for your son without."

"I suppose you're right," Jack begrudgingly agreed, 'muggle' medical care would help even less but still, he felt miserable about the whole situation. He wanted to hug Mikey more than ever.

John smiled again and slid a piece of paper across the table to him, detailing the next time and place that he was supposed to meet them. Jack picked it up lazily, scanning the words and admiring the strange - and more thean slightly disturbing - symbol belonging to John's organization. It was of a skeletal snake, twisted into a random shape with its head in the middle, mouth open revealing fangs and a forked tongue sticking out. It was moving. The actual image was _moving_. He'd always meant to ask about it, he glanced back up to ask John what it meant but the wizard was gone. Jack wondered if he'd ever get to teleport like that as he downed the last of his beer before looking back to the paper but the symbol was gone.

"Another drink please!"


	30. II: Meetings

_Brutus sat drumming his fingers across the table in boredom as he waited for Achan Sayder to arrive, Achan wasn't particularly good at arriving on time. He wrapped his thick black cloak tighter around himself, it was a freezing November morning which was why no one at the cafeteria had chosen to sit outside, much preferring the comfort of the warm indoors. Honestly, Brutus would rather have that but outside he didn't have to deal with the stares and there wasn't much foot traffic in the cobbled streets due to the cold._

_He sipped his coffee and cringed at the taste, despite being a black coffee it lacked any particular kick. He stirred the distasteful drink with his other hand and glanced around, making sure there was actually no one around or no one peering through the window at him. He slipped out a flash of Firewhiskey quickly and poured as much in as the cup mug would allow before flipped the lid shut, pocketing it once more. He sipped the 'coffee' again and was pleasantly greeted by the burn of the Firewhiskey, that was more like it. He didn't consider himself that much of a drinker, sometimes wine with meals and obviously if he was in a bar but since Achan had left to go to Egypt, he hadn't been to one, it seemed pointless alone. Recently he had been drinking more at home though, since Tommy had attacked Rodolphus, they'd had Dementors guarding them and Bellatrix had insisted Death Eaters still be with them too which meant Brutus was forced to endure the Dementors as well._

_"Brutus!" Achan's voice exclaimed cheerfully and glanced behind him to see his friend emerging from a side alleyway just behind him, Brutus returned the smile as his friend lazily plopped himself down on the spindly seat opposite, "long time no see."_

_"That would be because you ran off to Egypt with the love of your life," Brutus pointed out mockingly and Achan laughed._

_"Well girls love soppy crap like that, got me out of that old hag's house, didn't it?"_

_"For a limited time only."_

_"I will tell you what went wrong with Margo momentarily, after I get served," Achan offered before loudly hammering on the window of the cafeteria and hollering for some service._

_Brutus patiently waited while the exasperated witch had to come out in the cold in short sleeves and an even shorter skirt to take Achan's order and endure being hitting on, if she hadn't been unnecessarily rude before than Brutus might actually have felt sorry for her. Achan had always been a scrawny child and now he was a weedy man, taller than Brutus had thought he would be but still scrawny with a tangled mane of wild curly black hair and electric eyes that had more than a slight glint of madness in them, especially combined with his ever-present demented grin. He was wear a thick cloak much like Brutus, only his was brown and looked new, the only other noticeable difference was his deeply tanned skin._

_"About time," Achan complained as the woman returned with his drink._

_"I'll pay," Brutus offered before she could ask for payment and nodded, returning inside as soon as Brutus had put the coins in her palm, she looked at them like they were tainted. Brutus always paid because Achan was not from a wealthy family at all, a near-broke mother and a father who left when he was young, never to return and it wasn't like Achan had a high-paying job. Or any job, for that matter._

_"Despite the terrible, but admittedly hot service, I still would have preferred we meet in a bar like the Leaky or the like."_

_"I told you I'm busy tonight and the day crowd is annoying."_

_"Busy doing what? Being rich beyond my wildest dreams? Also, by annoying you mean starey," Achan commented and Brutus snorted in answer, not wanting to admit it was true, there were too many people passing through to get to Diagon Alley during the day for his liking, pointing, starting and whispering. He hated it._

_"So how was Egypt?" Brutus questioned, as much out of curiosity as to change the subject._

_"Sandy. And hot," Achan answered with a disgusted snort, "I had sand in places in I didn't even know I had and it is so freakin' hot. So hot that I'm actually enjoying the freezing, wet and generally terrible British weather."_

_"That bad?"_

_"Definitely. If I ever date another girl who wants to live in Egypt to work as a Curse-Breaker, remind me of the sand and the heat and slap me until I see sense!"_

_"Will do," Brutus smirked playfully before becoming more serious again, "so what did happen with Margo?"_

_"It wasn't my fault this time," Achan pointed out, also sounding more serious, "her sister married a muggle. I mean can you believe that?! I overlook the fact that Margo's a half-blood and her sister goes and does an atrocity like that! And you know, I could have overlooked the sister if Margo severed all contact and disowned her but Margo actually supported the marriage! 'My sister's in love,' 'he's a great guy', 'why should it matter he's a muggle?' Its all bull crap! How can people demean themselves by being with muggles? I feel the need to shower just from looking at those disgusting beings."_

_"I don't know how they do it either," Brutus said quietly and shoved the image of himself killing the muggle out of his mind as forcefully as he could, swallowing more of his improved coffee._

_"Neither do I, can you even imagine? Margo and her stupid sister. What are women like, eh?"_

_"I wouldn't know, I've only dated gold-diggers and girls who lose bets and have to date the ugliest guy in school."_

_"That was one time! And I apologized and I don't even see why, you were happy when you thought she was actually into you."_

_"Its not fun finding out someone you care about was just going out with you for some stupid bet and doesn't care about you at all," Brutus told him miserably even though he knew Achan wouldn't understand._

_"So? You still got to kiss her and stuff, she was hot, isn't that really all that matters? Love is for soppy morons," Achan told him and Brutus grunted again in answer, it was as pointless to argue about as it was to think about when you looked like he did, "so how's your brother? Still trying to off himself?"_

_"That was one time!" Brutus protested, he could never understand what Achan's problem with his brother was, "one freakin' time! And it was years ago! He's perfectly fine now. He succeeded in being an Auror in fact."_

_"Your brother, Atticus Ashain is an Auror?"_

_"Yes."_

_"The same one who couldn't keep his nose out of a book unless he was on a broom?" Achan laughed and Brutus scowled, "what does he do? Stand there and bore the criminals to tears so they turn themselves in to real Aurors just to get away from him?"_

_"No, he's a good Auror," Brutus growled defensively, just because he was afraid for his brother's safety didn't mean he thought Atty was a complete imbecile, "he's a smart, talented wizard and he has improved, I spent hours practicing dueling with him to make sure he'd be prepared. Lay off him."_

_"Well I hope he appreciates the hours of your life that he wasted having you train him. In away its actually a good thing, odds are he'll not survive the war, either from getting killed because he's an inferior duelist or killing himself because he's weak and can't cope which leaves you as the sole heir to the Ashain fortune."_

_"Technically my father's the heir not us, unless he dies before Grandfather. And I would much rather have my brother alive than money, I haven't even dented my trust fund yet."_

_"That old bastard isn't dead yet?"_

_"Nope, my grandparents are unfortunately still alive and kicking."_

_"Damn."_

_"Yep."_

_"How's your dad?" Achan asked as he sipped his drink, Brutus cringed._

_"Not so great really, kind of in some kind of mental breakdown. He's now a paranoid, terrified recluse, he banned visitors from the house, which was why I couldn't invite you over by the way."_

_"Any particular reason why or did he just lose even more marbles since the last time I saw him? He is only like thirty-eight or thirty-nine, I forget when his birthday is."_

_"He was attacked by Death Eaters, they tortured him and he isn't coping so great still," Brutus admitted darkly and Achan looked surprised._

_"Why would Death Eaters attack him? He's a pureblood after all. Is it because he's dated mudbloods before?"_

_"No, they wanted him to join them. And he refused."_

_"Well that was stupid of him, he's lucky he's not dead," Achan pointed out seriously and Brutus grunted, not wanting to talk about it. Achan's expression changed almost as soon as he'd spoken though, his smile split his face and he glanced around before continuing, "you know how You-Know-Who's back?"_

_"No, I'm the only wizard in England who isn't aware of such an unimportant fact," Brutus snipped sarcastically but Achan's cheerfulness didn't sway._

_"I had my most brilliant idea ever. We join him."_

_"What?!" Brutus exclaimed, choking slightly on his whiskey-coffee but Achan only nodded enthusiastically._

_"Think about it, eradicating the muggle vermin and mudblood scum, along with those blood traitors. Isn't it our duty as practically-purebloods to help You-Know-Who in his quest to put the world to rights? Its the right thing to do and think of the glory of helping in such a noble ideal, we could be great, you know?"_

_"It not all that great, you have to kill and torture and stuff," Brutus pointed out quietly, restraining himself from touching his marked arm, "besides, we're not the ones who'd get glory or respect."  
_

_"Good!" Achan hissed and, if possible, his smile actually widened, "I want them to suffer, I want them to die and I want to be the one to help do it. I've always wanted to know what it feels like to kill, torture is something I've been fantasizing about since I was six and I killed the old hag's cat because she let father walk out on us. Do you remember the time we killed Pip Varanian's owl?"_

_"You killed his owl, I had nothing to do with it. I didn't even know you'd done it until he accused of it."_

_"Whatever. But the point is, that was the highlight of my year. I enjoyed killing the thing and I loved his reaction, so pissed off and upset at the same time. Blood traitor bastard deserved it."_

_"No, I think you went too far. It wasn't the owl's fault it had such a lousy owner."_

_"Merlin's sake, its just a bloody bird, an object of Varanian's that I destroyed to hurt him and it worked."_

_"What if he'd retaliated and killed my owl thinking I'd done it?"_

_"Then you could have just bought a new one, not like you're strapped for cash. Besides, he was too much of a Gryffindor for that, he's a pansy not capable of killing," Achan protested as he fidgeted, "you know I heard he married that mudblood? The one with the godawful name that he was joined at the hip too, they have a couple of kids now. I for one hope that they get targeted by the Death Eaters, wipe out the lot of them."_

_"Maybe Pip and the mudblood do but its not the kids fault they have lousy parents," Brutus said carefully although truthfully, as much he hated Varanian he wasn't sure he wanted him to die, purely on principle the mudblood Ethel yes but certainly not children._

_"Kids grow up, Brutus, don't think of them as children but future assholes like their daddy. And don't join if you don't want to, if you're too weak but I've made up my mind and I am joining the Death Eaters, nothing you or mother the naggy hag can say is going to change my mind," Achan announced firmly as he got to his feet, taking out a necklace and tossing it to him quickly, "got you that as a souvenir from Egypt by the way. I'm going to go make history now though, goodbye."_

_"Wait!" Brutus called after him and Achan hesitated, not sure if he was doing the right thing or not as he jumped up after him and grabbed his friend's arm. He sighed and rolled up his sleeve enough to reveal the Dark Mark, Achan's eyes bulged in excitement before Brutus covered it again, glancing around to make sure no one saw but the street was empty. He lowered his voice anyway before Achan could spill the questions that he could practically see waiting to burst from his friend's lips, "if you want to be a Death Eater then you're going the wrong way, I can take you to them if you're really sure."_

_"I am, I want it more than I've ever wanted anything in my life," Achan told him with a look of awe etched into his grinning face, Brutus nodded grimly._

_"Alright. Come on then."_

* * *

Scorpius was woken up Sunday morning at six by the heat sensation coming from the ring, on the inside was directions to the clump of trees where he usually met with Varanian. He dressed and hurried there to find Varanian waiting, they'd practiced some with the rings the previous day in the house but Scorpius was still pleased to see that they worked over a longer distance. He thought that Varanian probably was too but it was difficult to tell with him, he looked even more tired than he had the day before.

"In case by any chance this vulture thing with Aurelius pans out then I'm going to teach you these spells, since I created them its extremely unlikely that they can be undone because Shadows - or Aurors - won't know what they're looking for," Varanian said to him after they were back in the basement, he handed Scorpius a piece of parchment with a letter to him explaining about Ellisar working for the Shadows and his appearance, "obviously you already know that and I'm not sending it but its just for an example, as you can see its important information that the Shadows wouldn't want you to know. The spells are _dissimulo_ and _dissiolvo_. If you're sending a letter then you need to use _dissimulo_ and if you're receiving a letter you'll need to use _dissiolvo_. Watch. _Dissimulo_."

Varanian flicked his wand at the letter that Scorpius was holding, immediately all the neatly written letters started moving and shifting, they seemed to be rearranging themselves. After a minute or so the letter was still there, it was still addressed to him and signed by Varanian but the content about Ellisar was gone, instead it was a random letter talking about the weather.

"It'll keep the letter intact but just rearrange the letters into an innocuous message, leaving the names alone because it'll be suspicious if you started signing your name as something completely different. Obviously we won't use my name in real letters because that would be equally suspicious. Now if I use _dissiolvo_," Varanian explained and tapped the letter as he said the spell, the letters again began rearranging themselves except this time back to the original message about Ellisar, "then it rearranges the letters back to their original format to be read."

"Useful," Scorpius offered feeling both impressed and oddly excited.

"Yes although like I said, only if the vulture thing pans out or in an extreme emergency. Now you just need to learn it."

This proved to be a lot easier said than done, Scorpius spent the rest of the morning trying to learn Varanian's spell. The letters stubbornly didn't want to rearrange themselves at all, or they would give up halfway through and just end up as a tangled mess of letters in the middle of the page, or they would lazily retain the same words which Varanian didn't consider good enough and would return it to its original format for him to try again. On the bright side, the Fidelius Charm was indeed protecting him from the Trace. Scorpius discovered the trick to _dissimulo_ was having to keep your focus until the letters had finished rearranging themselves, by the time he was returned to bid farewell to his aunt, he had grasped it.

After lunch the letter spells continued, _dissiolvo_ proved to be even more - if not more - difficult than _dissimulo_ as the letters didn't seem to want to remember their original message, it was frustrating. The trick for that one was that you had to remember it was a reversal spell not a jumbling letters spell, the focus was on undoing what had been done not doing something. Varanian had him practice them both excessively for awhile, even after Scorpius succeeded at them. Following that, Varanian went through all the defensive things they'd done, asking Scorpius questions and to show him things to make sure he knew things as well as doing some of the exercises, Scorpius still wasn't perfect at them and was sorely disappointed with himself.

"Okay that's pretty much it, the only other important thing that I haven't gone over is Patronuses," Varanian said as he came to the end of his speech and sat down on the bed, "how are your Patronus classes with Ashain going?"

"Not so great," Scorpius admitted glumly, "no one in the class has come close to making a corporeal or incorporeal Patronus but that's supposedly normal because its a difficult spell, Professor Ashain was trying to make sure all of us could make wisps of silver by focusing on the happy memory every time we cast it, later expanding on that."

"Good tactic."

"Yeah but I... I'm kind of the only one in my class you hasn't made any silver anything... Professor Ashain was going to help with it the day after I got suspended but obviously I couldn't make it so now I'm probably going to be more behind than ever."

"Why do you have so much trouble with it?" Varanian demanded.

"I... think I have trouble focusing on a happy memory, its hard to think of the kind of one the spell needs. A lot of memories aren't happy and the ones that are just seem... not as strong anymore considering things change like my grandfather dying, happy memories with him just remind me of that," Scorpius told him quietly, feeling more uncomfortably saying it than to someone he liked like Professor Ashain but Varanian always seemed to make an effort to be honest with him and trust worked both ways, he wouldn't be able to help if Scorpius lied about it anyway. Varanian's expression actually softened as Scorpius spoke, he looked sympathetic and his eyes trailed to the photographs on the table.

"That can happen sometimes," Varanian said after a minute and looked back to him, "the spell doesn't require a memory really, what's more important than that is how the memory makes you feel, for most people memories are the best way to quickly make you feel the required way and allow you to focus on it. Other things can make you feel that way, sometimes just thinking about people you care about or pets or even objects can give you the emotions you need, another thing that can work is focusing on your hopes and dreams. Ashain will probably tell you the same, its the emotions you need, think about that for your next Patronus lesson."

"You're not going to teach me?"

"There's not really enough time to attempt to help you before you have to go, I want to test the rings more first. I want to drop you off in Plymouth then give you a few minutes to walk to another street and apparate a distance away then you can try giving me your location again so I can see if it still works."

"You mean drop me off in a wizard section of Plymouth right?" Scorpius asked fearfully as Varanian headed towards the stairs, stopping when Scorpius remained glued to his seat.

"There's not really a wizard section of Plymouth, I just meant like a high street. Now come on, we're wasting time."

"You can't be serious? You're just going to leave me alone in an area full of muggles?"

"Is that a problem?"

"Of course its a problem!" Scorpius burst out before he could stop himself and dripped the edges of the seat tightly, it was completely irrational and stupid, if Varanian intended to force him to go then holding the seat would do nothing. His wrist was burning, "take me to a wizard place, muggle places aren't safe."

"How are wizard places safer? Shadows are after you and everyone is after me, besides there's no kind of Diagon Alley in Plymouth."

"They just are!"

"Is it because of what happened to you?" Varanian asked and Scorpius looked away but he couldn't get around it, he struggled to get the words out.

"Yes. I-I don't... I don't want to be taken and... and hurt again. Its okay before because Yip was there and then I kind of knew Jack and then when he left it was a quiet area and I just had to hope I could find you but... you just... you just want to abandon me there with them and... and... I'm... I'm afraid."

"The Shadows want to kidnap you."

"Not to do... those things like the muggles."

"It won't be for very long."

"It doesn't take long."

"I promise I won't let anything happen to you."

"I don't trust you!" Scorpius yelled, he knew maybe he was going too far but his heart was beating so loudly it drowned out rational thought.

"You have to face your fears sometime," Varanian whispered, "you can't just avoid things that scare you forever, I have things that terrify me, I'm scared of fire but I have to face it."

"I don't care! Its not he same! You've never been hurt in any way! I want to go home."

"Alright," Varanian agreed without hesitation before sighing, "come on then."

"Thank you," Scorpius offered as he jumped up and followed Varanian back up the stairs, continuing outside with the focus on getting safely back to his aunt's and away from potentially being abandoned by Varanian amongst muggles to take him. Just as they reached their usual apparation point, a thought struck Scorpius and he snatched his hand away, "how do I know that you're not trying to trick me and will just take me to Plymouth anyway?"

"Because I'm not a complete bastard, I wouldn't do that," Varanian told him and offered out his hand, Scorpius eyed the hand and focused on it for the first time in awhile. He noticed how badly scarred it was from being burned, it wasn't just a section but the _whole_ hand, every piece of skin, the back of the hand, the palm, the fingers - there were no nails just scar, in between the fingers, the thumb and the scars looked like they continued up his sleeve. He felt an echo of guilt for his outburst, Varanian may never have been kidnapped by muggles but his fear of fire was justified, he had been hurt in other ways. Scorpius was still reluctant to take his hand though, he took a deep breathe before taking it, immediately feeling the sensation of being apparated and an instant later they were on the outskirts of his aunt's town, "be careful, Scorpius. I... I heard them talking last night, by the sounds of it one of the teachers are working with the Shadows."

"Really?" Scorpius wondered, feeling himself starting to relax as his fear slowly started to trickle away.

"Of course really so keep an eye out. If there's anyone suspicious let me know and I'll make it a priority to investiate them."

"Grant," Scorpius said immediately, "its Grant. Wynston Grant. He hates me, he has it in for me since the first day he met me. It has to be him."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, the Shadows are going to mad about what I did to their leader so it makes sense, right?"

"It does. I'll look in to him," Varanian agreed with a slight nod, "take care."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius apologized as Varanian turned as if to go, "for snapping at you."

"Its okay, it doesn't matter, I just wanted to make sure it worked. You're right anyway, its not the same."

"Not the same but still... Does... Does it hurt? Your scars?" Scorpius asked cautiously and Varanian blinked in surprise and looked down at his scarred hand.

"Not really. Well sort of. Sometimes. Its not as bad as getting them was," Varanian answered quietly, "I was burned really badly and they needed to regrow muscles, nerves and things. It wasn't fun, it hurt and they couldn't give me anything for the pain without it interfering plus pain meant it was working. It was a horrible experience. It didn't go quite to plan though, the skin was left too sensitive and... anything feels really rough, even soft things, the finest of silk still feels like rusty iron or something. If I didn't charm my clothes then I'd feel like I'm being grated by sandpaper all the time, takes a long time to stop hurting if I aggravate it. Near impossible not to, you can't go without touching everything, mostly my hands usually hurt but its bearable I guess. Just something you get used to having to live with."

"Does wearing the ring hurt?"

"Yeah but the gains way out the cost. I can cope, don't worry about it."

"I want to try it," Scorpius said before he could change his mind, it seemed unfair Varanian was willing to suffer to protect him and he wouldn't risk himself for one stupid exercise just because of a stupid irrational pathetic fear, Calderon and Professor Ashain would do it, "being in Plymouth and you finding me."

"No, its alright. I don't want to make you uncomfortable, I'm sorry for pressuring you, I was just worried with you being so far away in Scotland that it wouldn't last such a range but it doesn't matter, it should suffice. Sometimes I forget you're just a child."

"I want to do it," Scorpius said more firmly, "please just do it while I'm psyched up for it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!" Scorpius snapped, he wasn't joking about doing it while he was still in the right frame of mind as he held out his hand to Varanian. Varanian took his hand and apparated immediately to a muggle alleyway.

"I've took you somewhere you've been so hopefully it won't be so bad, just go into one of these side streets and press the ring and I'll be right there. Hold your wand at all times if it makes you feel safer, you're a perfectly capable wizard, rememb-"

"Scorpius!" a voice he recognized called and he turned to see Jack, glancing briefly around, Scorpius realized they were in the street where he'd first met Jack. He strode over to him looking anxious and a quick glance revealed Varanian only had time to have hid his scars not altered his appearance, Jack eyed him for a second, "whose this?"

"Babysitter," Scorpius and Varanian answered in near perfect unison much to his surprise, Jack nodded in understanding.

"Can I talk to you alone?"

"Do the thing you were going to do," Scorpius told Varanian, feeling safer with Jack and Varanian nodded before disapparating in a slight pop.

"I totally want to do that," Jack complained before turning back to him, running a hand through his untidy dark hair, "I wanted to apologize for taking off like that and ditching you. I shouldn't have done that even if I was upset. I was worried, looking for you after but I couldn't find you."

"Its alright, I understand. Can't blame you for being upset."

"Well for what its worth I'm sorry, I don't think you hurt Mikey on purpose and I've made enough mistakes to not hold it against people for making their own."

"Thanks, Jack," Scorpius offered feeling a twinge of hope, if Jack could forgive him then maybe Michael could too.

"And erm... could you tell Mikey that if he wants then... he could always spend the Christmas holidays with me if he doesn't already have plans, my current apartment actually has a bed this time so he wouldn't have to sleep on a couch so... just erm... pass that on please."

"I will," Scorpius promised and Jack nodded.

"Thanks. Is that guy coming back or... does everyone ditch you around here?"

"He's coming back, I just need to go to that alley over there."

"Okay then, see you."

"Bye," Scorpius offered before remembering something and started to take off the leather jacket, "oh yeah, your leather jacket. I have it for you, you can have it back."

"Keep it," Jack told him with a grin as he waved it off, "if you want."

"Thanks," Scorpius smiled.

Scorpius walked over to the alleyway opposite with his wand out, it was deserted and Jack watched him from across the way with an anxious expression. Scorpius took a deep breath, backing away until he was slightly out of Jack's line of sight - he didn't want anyone to find out about their secret way of communicating, not even a muggle - before tapping the ring, he felt it heat up to indicate it was working. An instant later he heard a pop and Varanian was by his side, apparently just coming from Aberdeen. Rings worked.

"I should erase his memory," Varanian commented as he returned him to his aunt's village, "he saw us together and it could be dangerous."

"No! You can't, he's a muggle, he's not a threat and the Shadows would never think to ask him," Scorpius protested, "plus my friends already know I contact him - not about what - and that he replied so it would be weird if he had no memory. Please Varanian."

"I suppose you're right," Varanian grudgingly admitted, "the father of a friend you accidentally scarred isn't something the Shadows would automatically connect. I'll leave him for now... Well done, you've done well, Scorpius, good luck."

In another pop he was gone and Scorpius was suddenly anxious about returning to Hogwarts.

* * *

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter and SDF for reviewing! _


	31. II: Missing Something

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!_

**_Can I please take Brutus's father home with me?_**  
_You realize Brutus' father is Aurelius right?_

**_What the heck is Jack doing getting involved with wizards offering what sounds like a pipe dream?_**  
_Because no one else would agree to use magic to help him get the money he needed to even pay off his debt let alone help him get rich. They helped him and agreed to give him magical powers, in return he just has to take part in their experiments, he doesn't know enough about magic to know how plausible that is or how reliable the wizards are. Also about him not being a threat, Scorpius and Varanian don't know everything you do and they don't know about Jack_

* * *

Scorpius returned to Malfoy Manor after his aunt came back from work, she joined them for dinner as it would be the last time they saw each other before Christmas. He wanted her to stay as long as possible so they would be safe, he tried to make more of an effort to engage in conversation with them but his mind kept drifting. Knowing at least one of the Aurors by sight was a Shadow was worrying, as well as that Grant was working with them. He was also anxious about everything in general, would he even still have friends?

_"Scorpius... Come...To... Me... NOW!"_

He woke with a start, breathing heavily and peering around in the dense darkness, he was sticky from sweat. He had to go. His wrist was burning, burning in agony and it hurt so much he wanted to cry out but he couldn't, he had to go. For some reason he just kept staring staring at his trembling wrist, he had to go, he swung his legs jerkily over the side of his bed and tried to walk, staggering awkwardly as he tried so hard to stay upright but it was too hard but he had to go. His body collapsed onto the floor but he'd lost consciousness before his head touched the ground.

When Scorpius opened his eyes again, he was still lying in the same position only with sunlight streaming through the drapes, his limbs tangled up awkwardly and uncomfortably. His wrist wasn't hurting anymore though, was he sleepwalking now? He got up, stretching his stiff limbs and feeling oddly exhausted. He hesitated before pulling up his pajama sleeve and the friendship bracelet to look at his wrist, the scars were so dark they seemed almost black and the bruising-that-wasn't-bruising tainted the skin around it. He gently brushed his wrist with his fingers, it was tender to the touch, sore like a real bruise. He knew his wrist hadn't been like that before but he also knew the cause of the wound had nothing to do with magic so it couldn't be anything serious. He knew it. And that was the end of it, muggles and muggles alone had caused the wound so it wasn't anything to worry about. It was just kind of weird. He yanked his sleeve back down and refused to dwell on it further.

He had enough actual things to worry about, like Shadow Aurors and his friends hating him and how Michael was doing and being behind on classes. His wrist was successfully shoved from his thoughts by the time he was dressed and downstairs for breakfast, even his grandmother joined them as it would be the last time until the Christmas break. His grandmother was taking a particularly long time in hugging him goodbye before he was Flooing over to the Potter's household, yet again being reminded to speak clearly and keep his elbows tucked in. They have no respect for you at all, its like your five. Scorpius sighed as he was hugged again by his parents before tossing the powder into the fire, slinging his bag over his shoulder and stepping into the lapping emerald flames.

"12 Grimmauld Place," Scorpius spoke and felt his world whirling, momentarily he was stepping out in a different room.

It was colder than he thought the Potter-Weasley's home would be yet warmer than what he'd thought the Black house would be, considering it was both, Scorpius supposed it was spot on. The couches had an old regal feeling about them, the stuffed animals were distinctively not though. His narrowed instinctively when he saw James, leaning in the doorway and James glared back.

"Come with me," James said stiffly, "Dad's waiting."

Scorpius didn't say anything, it wouldn't have mattered if he did because James was moving the instant his lips stopped moving and Scorpius hurried to keep up as he followed. He kept one eye on James but constantly swiveled his head to glance at the walls, they were crammed with pictures. There were a lot featuring a variety of people at a variety of ages all with red hair, not that their wasn't other hair colors, untidy black hair seemed the next most common. He would have liked to look in more detail but James didn't pause so Scorpius begrudgingly followed, abruptly James opened a door and barged in.

"I'm doing everything I can to find them, Luna, I-" Harry Potter was saying before he was interrupted by James' arrival, he was standing addressing the two at the kitchen table.

"Malfoy's here. Can we go now?" James stated rudely.

"What have I told you about knocking?!" Mrs Potter hissed and Scorpius realized both James' parents along with a woman were in the kitchen, the woman looked vaguely familiar but he didn't know her. She had long unkempt dirty blond hair and silver eyes that shimmered with unshed tears, she was wearing her blouse backwards and had a necklace made of bottle caps, she was clutching at a photo in her hand.

"If I was back at Hogwarts then I wouldn't even be here to interrupt."

"If you don't show some manners we won't let you go out," Potter pointed calmly and James blanched.

"I'm sorry for forgetting to knock," James apologized meekly although Scorpius was sure that James hadn't 'forgotten' it.

"Better."

"So can we go now?" James asked brightly but his parents exchanged a look, "_please_? I don't want to miss the first class of the day."

"Alright," Harry Potter sighed before turning to the woman, her hands move slightly and Scorpius realized the picture was of identical twin boys, the missing Scamander twins. The woman - presumably Luna - was probably their mother, "I'll be back in about half an hour if you want to wait with Ginny but there's no leads so I have no news for you, we'll keep looking."

"Thank you," Luna spoke quietly and flickered her eyes to Scorpius, "nice jacket."

"Thanks," Scorpius muttered as Potter came out into the hallway with him while James went to say his goodbyes to his mother, feeling oddly upset that the twins hadn't been found yet, it had been over five months. Five months for him had been Christmas, it had been hell, "why do you waste so much time, effort and Aurors hunting an innocent man instead of finding the twins? They're just children, bad things could be happening to them."

"Believe me, I know," Potter agreed quietly, "I've already explained to you about Varanian but I am looking for the boys too, problem is they disappeared without a trace and have no new leads whereas with Varanian we do. In fact we have the opposite problem with him, so many reported sightings and we have to investigate them all even if they think its him because some shopkeeper looked at them funny or because they don't like someone. Because he's a metamorphmagus everyone thinks he could be anyone, you would not believe how many people think he's killed and replaced someone they know just because they're behaving slightly differently."

"Have you tried looking for the twins in muggle places?"

"Not all muggles... take children."

"I'm not saying all muggles obviously, I just mean don't rule it out."

"I won't," Potter offered before James came back out of the kitchen, grinning with his own bag slung over his shoulder, "let's go then."

* * *

_Brutus wasn't sure whether leading Achan Sayder to the Death Eaters had been the right thing to do or not, he didn't want his only friend to be at risk as well but then on the rare occasion that Achan was serious about something then he was serious and you'd have more chance of resurrecting the dead than you had of changing his mind. If he hadn't led Achan to the Death Eaters then he would have got there on his own anyway, only difference was be that he'd be mad with Brutus for not divulging the information sooner. At least Achan was happy. Someone should be. _

_He trudged along to the basement for his duty, it bothered him more than usual as he couldn't tell Achan anything about what he'd done as a Death Eater because he'd been put with the twins, the twins that were to be kept a secret from everyone who didn't already know or anyone else chosen to guard them. Achan had not been chosen to guard them so Brutus couldn't tell him, which made Achan displeased with him anyway. _

_Brutus was surprised to see the basement was devoid of Dementors when he came down though, that did improve his mood. It was just Sal though meaning poor Tommy was being tortured, Sal was jumping to her feet from the mattress and blankets she had for a bed when he came down the steps, hastily wiping her eyes and glaring at him furiously._

_"I wasn't crying!" Sal snapped immediately and Brutus paused, noticing the slight sheen in her dark eyes for the first time and the red actually was more color than he was used to seeing on either of the twins' faces._

_"Of course you weren't," Brutus offered slowly and she nodded determinedly, "but you know its okay to cry."_

_"I don't care, I wasn't crying."_

_"Neither was I."_

_"Good."_

_"Glad we got that sorted."_

_"Yes," Sal agreed firmly and folded her arms, staring off into the corner while Brutus leaned against a wall._

_"What happened to the Dementors?"_

_"Master took them with Tommy."_

_"If they repress magic then doesn't that defeat the object of teaching him to use magic?"_

_"He has them stay outside, close enough to come in and stop Tommy if his power gets out of control but far enough away to not interfere with his ability to use magic."_

_"Right," Brutus nodded in understanding and hesitated before going back to what was bothering Sal, "anything on your mind?"_

_"Well…" Sal began, seeing hesitant as well as she glanced back to him finally, "my cousin is in Hogwarts on a mission to help Father by killing Albus Dumbledore and I'm locked in a basement after having just been tortured for four hours."_

_"Okay," Brutus said slowly, resisting the urge to say both options sucked. It actually made him feel down again, he had nothing against Dumbledore, he had never looked at Brutus with disgust like most people and had been rather to him, Brutus thought, and good to his brother too. And now he was marked for death. He doubted the pansy Malfoy kid would have stomach to go through with it though, plus Dumbledore was an exceptional wizard by all accounts, he would wipe the floor with Malfoy._

_"Everything is wrong with that. Just because I can't do magic with a wand doesn't mean I'm not powerful, I'm more powerful than beloved Draco is. Voldemort is my Father and you've seen what Tommy can do. I can feel it, I can feel the power running through my veins when I try but I'm just not as good at unleashing it as Tommy. I'm perfectly capable, I just can't prove it," Sal explained starting to sound angry, "its so frustrating, I can't do magic and I can't do it even worse with a wand and just because of that I get treated worse than a muggle deserves._

_"And why should he get to go to Hogwarts? If I can't go and I'm the daughter of the greatest sorcerer to walk the Earth then no one should get to go, its not fair. I'm better than them, they shouldn't get something that I want when I myself can't even have it. The school should be destroyed and everyone in it and that bastard Dumbledore should die for not letting people older than eleven in, its not my fault I was born in Azkaban and didn't get freed until I was thirteen, too old. How dare Dumbeldore reject us!" _

_"I don't think Dumbledore rejected you, I'm pretty sure he doesn't actually know that you and Tommy exist," Brutus pointed out which was true, Dumbledore wouldn't have let them rot in Azkaban if he knew regardless of who their father was… would he? Sal didn't seem to hear him or just didn't believe him or care though because she continued._

_"And the worst part is that Father gave Draco the mission. Father spent all of five minutes with us but he has time to indoctrinate Draco into the Death Eaters and give him a mission," Sal continued, sounding upset more than angry then and he could hear the effort of not crying in her voice, "he has time for everything but us, we didn't even see him for thirteen years because he was vanquished and we were prisoners and he doesn't even care. I could be useful too, if he would just talk to me he would see, I could help him. But he doesn't care, he didn't even remember my name, Brutus, no one remembers my name."_

_"It'll be okay, Sal," Brutus offered lamely, truthfully he had nothing to say to that. With anyone else he would hazard a vague cheery comment that deep down her father cared about her, he forgot her name because he was stressed and busy with work but really he did care. But he couldn't bring himself to lie, they'd been born to be horcruxes not because the Dark Lord wanted a family, they were just as much tools to him as everyone else was._

_"How is it going to be okay?" Sal demanded noticing the lack of belief that Brutus had in his own words._

_"Because… Because…" Brutus tried to think of something comforting and finally it came to him, a variation the same thing he'd told himself a thousand times from knowing his filthy mudblood mother hated him, "because screw Voldemort, its his loss. You have a lot of potential, you're gonna be great one day and he'll regret not paying attention to you and underestimating you and not giving you the freakin' respect you deserved! Everyone will."_

_Sal looked at him for a long time with her piercing dark eyes, seeming to contemplate what he was saying although her expression was unreadable. Finally though she smiled and the basement was bathed in crimson might have freaked him out slightly if he wasn't used to Tommy.  
_

_"Damn straight. I'll prove it to him, to all of them that I deserve to be a Riddle. No one will ever forget my name and look down on me again."  
_

_"That's the spirit!" Brutus said brightly, grinning as well at having cheered her up and he had an idea of what also would. He took out his wand and offered it to her before she could change her mind, "unless you think you'll have more success if only Rodolphus teaches you magic?"_

* * *

They didn't go straight away to Hogwarts but rather to the Ministry because they were going to arrive with the next shift of Aurors because Potter thought it was safer than them randomly going there. Scorpius didn't agree with it anymore than he had when Potter had told him at lunch but he didn't have a choice, plus he still couldn't object on the basis of something Varanian had said.

Scorpius hadn't been to the Ministry before and had for the briefest of moments as he stepped into the flames cheered up at being able to see it. He was sorely disappointed to find the fireplace they were exiting from was hooked up automatically with the one in Potter's office when they said Ministry, he stepped out to find an office. A surprisingly ordinary looking office considering Potter was the Head Auror, it didn't look that different to his grandfather's one, only smaller and with warmer colors.

"We'll be returning to Hogwarts that way too," Potter said stepping out behind Scorpius and James – who had been let go first for being older – who looked bored, "I just need to assemble the Aurors, they should already he waiting as the others were due back two minutes-"

"Harry!" a man yelled as he stormed into Potter's office looking most irate, a handful of Aurors on his heels moving as if to stop him. Too late. The man looked like he'd come from outside where it was raining, Scorpius guessed this from the fact his brown cloak was damp and his short dripping black hair plastered to his head. His tired eyes gave Scorpius an odd déjà vu feeling but he didn't know the tall angry stranger but from the disapproving look on Potter's face, he did, "I demand you have the Aurors stop stalking me!"

"Aurors aren't stalking you, Roman… Tailing you maybe."

"Stalk, tail, same difference! I had nothing to do with the boy's disappearance and I have nothing to do with those missing twins, lay off me! I didn't do anything wrong."

"Interesting how you refer to him as the boy."

"You've known me since I was a child!" the man – presumably Roman – protested angrily, "I'm not a kidnapper. A jerk, fine but not a criminal. I didn't do anything to anyone and if you really believed I did you would have taken my son off me and had me fired, you're unfairly harassing me for… I don't even know why, because I defended myself when your brother-in-law attacked me?"

"You're lucky I'm not charging you for that."

"The Ministry charges for muggle fist-fights now?"

"Roman Rivers?" Scorpius guessed to himself curiously but the adults didn't seem to notice, James nodded in confirmation though without looking away from Roman, folding his arms in an identical manner to how his father was too. Studying Roman again, he did think he bore some resemblance to his older siblings and did share their eyes.

"Roman, just go wait outside, dry off and I'll see to you shortly."

"Talk to me now, dammit! I didn't do anything to the boy or the Scamander twins or the first one, I want you to quit having Aurors follow me around for no reason!"

"The boy has a name! And his mother accused you!"

"Well I don't know it because I had nothing to do with it!" Roman yelled, "and she's a lying bitch!"

"Don't swear in front of my son," Potter growled and Roman seemed to notice Scorpius and James for the first time, he took a deep breath.

"Fine, I'll wait but don't you dare blow me off."

"I won't," Potter promised and Roman shot all of them a dark look before stalking back out while the Aurors exchanged apologetic looks.

"Sorry boss," one said, "he just… kind of slipped past us, he's good with a wand."

"Its alright, just don't let it happen again. Watch him for a minute and send in the next four to go to Hogwarts while you're at it," Potter told the man and the Aurors that hadn't followed Roman back already shuffled back out and Potter turned back to them, "sorry about that. Alright now, you're both going back and its imperative that you behave yourselves. It doesn't take a genius to see that you two don't get along – James if you say, 'but he's a Malfoy' one more time then you are marching straight back home – in life people don't always get along but sometimes you have to at least be civil, you two have to be civil to one another. Shake hands."

"No!" Scorpius and James cried together, Potter's expression remained stony.

"You both promised to be civil and now you will prove it by shaking hands. Or going home."

James gave him a look of loathing and Scorpius returned the glare, he may not hate James as much as some people but he did utterly despise the bully, it may be Scorpius' spell but James had his own share of blame in Michael's injury. Scorpius forced his hand out and James looked at it like it was poisoned before reaching out to clasp his hand, shaking it once before snatching it away.

Potter nodded content before four different Aurors joined them in the office, he recognized one immediately at Ellisar. The one who'd tried to murder Varanian. The man only smiled at him though, an innocuous smile but his golden eyes glinted darkly and didn't move from Scorpius. Scorpius longed to tell Potter, he may not be perfect but at least he was fighting the Shadows, he could deal with Ellisar and it would be one less Shadow left darkening the world. He knew he couldn't though, it was impossible for him to know about Ellisar being one of the Shadows without Varanian which would ruin the credibility of Scorpius' accusation as well as putting Varanian at risk.

"Can I go first?" Scorpius asked instead and Potter nodded, James looked like this was the most outrageous thing he'd ever heard but as Potter pointed out, James had got to go first from Grimmauld Place. Scorpius threw the Floo powder into the fire and stepped into the flames, "Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."


	32. II: Back to School

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaugther, SDF, Guest and Aya Diefair for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_The "first one" (who I think is Scor?)_**  
_By the "first one" Harry was indeed referring to Scorpius and "the boy" to the boy who also went missing 2 weeks before his 10th birthday the previous year (the boy from Scorpius' dreams). Can't say whether Roman is involved or not though but for the record he doesn't beat Maurice_

**_Is Sal the woman that always leaves her perfume all over Brutus in the present time?_**  
_I'm not going to answer that because Brutus actually gives the name of her in Blood Runes for anyone who was paying attention because Lucius wasn't really and it didn't register with him, it'll be revealed again in this book though later on but you have to wait for it. And on age because I'm not sure if I gave Brutus' age, Brutus is 10 years older than Calderon and Sal, the flashbacks are running chronologically, in the flashbacks currently (1996) Brutus is 24, Calderon and Sal are 14 (since chapter 19). In the present time (2018) Brutus is 46, Calderon and Sal are 36_

* * *

Scorpius stepped out of the fireplace, finding himself once more in the headmaster's office. He had yet to get used to all the portraits facing the correct direction, most of them still seemed to be sleeping. Calderon was sitting at the headmaster's chair, petting his dog but stopped when Scorpius arrived and smiled. Scorpius was surprised considering Calderon should be at breakfast and how he'd been last time they'd seen each other but nonetheless grateful for what he was taking as forgiveness and returned the smile. Calderon tilted his head to one side curiously and raised an eyebrow as Scorpius walked over to him.

"What's with the ring?" Calderon asked curiously as James stepped out of the fireplace.

"I like rings," Scorpius told him cautiously, he didn't like lying to Calderon but he couldn't tell him the truth, especially not while they weren't alone, "aren't you missing breakfast?"

"Pfft breakfast," Calderon brushed it off, "I don't always eat at meals. Three meals a day is more meals a day than I've ever had in my life, if I ate all that food then I think I'd explode."

"You can't explode from eating food," James complained loftily but Calderon seemed unfazed as he gestured and an explosion of light burst from the air in front as if to illustrate his point.

"How do _you_ know?"

"Because its obvious! Everyone knows that, its never happened before."

"Ah but there's a first time for everything," Calderon pointed out and James rolled his eyes.

"Well then just starve but you're missing out, Hogwarts breakfasts are the best, you can have as much bacon as you want."

"I'm a vegetarian."

"Then you're missing out even more!" James moaned as Harry Potter stepped out of the fireplace and took his son aside to talk to him quietly out of earshot, from the eye rolls it looked like a lecture. Another Auror stepped out of the fireplace.

"You can go now, Scor," Calderon offered leaning back in the chair, "get your stuff put away and go to breakfast, if you've already eaten you can just hang around before your first class. Just please don't wind up back here again, if James is bothering you just come to me, okay?"

"Okay," Scorpius nodded, feeling relieved at the use of his nickname, "I won't let you down, Calderon. See you."

"You too. Password to you Common Room is 'sherbert lemon' by the way, I checked."

"Thanks."

Scorpius left the office with James still being talked to by his father and headed back to Gryffindor Tower alone, it was strange to be back but at the same time he was glad. The corridors were virtually empty, the students were all at breakfast but he did see the occasional Auror, he gripped his wand tightly whenever he passed them but they didn't say or do anything to him. Gryffindor Tower was empty too, his bed was neatly made and resting just as he'd left it. He put away his things and got his Charms books ready for the unfortunate first lesson, his eyes kept drifting over to Michael's empty even neater bed and wondering how his friend was doing. Or even if they were still friends considering what Scorpius had done to him.

He sighed and left for the Great Hall, he thought it would be best if he could try speak to his friends before the first class. Plus there was safety in numbers. And he'd be more likely to see James again if he hung around Gryffindor Tower. He still hesitated as he reached the Great Hall, psyching himself up as tried to prepare himself for a potentially cold or angry greeting. Calderon may have seemed to have forgiven him but that didn't mean Michael would've, or even that his other friends wouldn't hate him for what he'd done. He found his legs had jumped before his mind could finish worrying and he entered the hall.

He regretted it immediately, heads swiveled towards him and there was a sudden flood of hushed whispers and fingers pointed at him. The Gryffindor table were casting him a lot of dirty looks as he strode down, suddenly wishing his friends sat at the opposite end of the table. He finally found his friends though, most of them anyway. Rose, Abby and Albus were sitting together in their usual area although Molly wasn't with them, nor were Corin and Maurice who were sitting further down talking with their hands. Scorpius decided to just leave them for now as he cleared his throat by the trio, Albus and Abby looked at him with neutral expressions while Rose hazarded a smile and gestured for him to sit down beside her.

"Hi," Scorpius offered nervously.

"So... how was your vacation?" Albus asked with a slightly forced cheerfulness and a visibly strained smile.

"It was... different. Um... why is everyone glaring at me?"

"You and James lost _two hundred_ points for Gryffindor in a single afternoon," Abby pointed out, "there's pretty much no chance of us winning the House Cup now, you and him aren't very popular at the moment with Gryffindor."

"Not like I was popular anyway," Scorpius shrugged, unconcerned by the house he didn't belong in losing or not liking him. Actually he was rather annoyed, they cared more about a stupid cup than about someone getting hurt, "where's Molly?"

"Early Quidditch practice I think," Albus answered and the trio exchanged an odd look before avoiding looking at Scorpius, he frowned as he got the impression he was missing something, "she doesn't really eat with us anymore anyway. Still practices though, thinks if she trains hard enough then not only can she win the Quidditch Cup but salvage the House Cup if she can get enough goals. Its obviously not going to happen though, no amount of training can make Louis, Latimer or Freddie's girlfriend good enough to get that many goals. Gives her something to focus on though I guess, she's still getting a lot of trouble for being Lucy's sister."

"Is there anything I should know about Molly?"

"No," the three answered in perfect unison without looking at him, his frown deepened but he decided to let it slide for the moment as he hadn't asked the most important question yet of all.

"Where's Michael?"

"Not here," Rose told him hesitantly, "he comes to breakfast early when no one else is around and leaves before most people arrive, not sure where he hangs out until class, not the Library or Gryffindor Tower though. Its a mystery."

"And none of you go with him?!" Scorpius burst out in surprise and they all shifted uncomfortably.

"Its complicated," Albus protested as he picked at his plate, "you know we were on rocky ground before you left, I did apologize but he told me to not to and I should be glad I got my wish about him not being able to play. Not until the new year at least, according to the healer. But I am totally not glad by the way, I feel terrible, I never wanted him to get hurt. He said we're okay though after that but... well they wrote to his mother and stepfather about his eye and he got a letter from home as a reply, don't know what it said but since then he's been really withdrawn."

"You ditched him because he went quiet?!"

"No! We were still hanging out then," Rose exclaimed looking exasperated, "we just started being around Devin Copper - you remember that boy I liked? - and his friends, I guess he feels self conscious because he started avoiding us then after he stopped wearing the bandages. Even though Devin is totally cool with him... By the way, did I tell you that Devin _asked me out_?! We're dating now!"

"Well that's great," Scorpius offered dismissively, "but what about Michael?"

"What about him? Did you not hear me say he's avoiding us? He comes to breakfast so early he's gone before us, skips lunch and arrives really late to dinner so he can sit far away from us, if he turns up for dinner at all. He sits away from us in lessons and... we actually have no idea where he goes all day, not the Library or the Common Room."

"Not the dormitory either," Albus added, "and he barely arrives within time for the curfew, he does a you and closes the drapes. Sometimes you see him around Vern and Orous but mostly he's just... not around, we figured he just needs some space for now."

"Maybe," Scorpius muttered worriedly and swallowed, "how's... how's his eye?"

"He didn't magically get his sight back in it one or a prosthetic one if that's what you mean," Abby informed him as she pushed aside her empty bowl.

"Has a really gross scar though," Rose said with a cringe, "and his blind eye is gross too."

"Are you guys mad at me?" Scorpius questioned quietly with a sinking feeling as he idly thumbed the friendship bracelet around his wrist.

"Meh, maybe a few weeks ago but we've come to terms with it now," Albus shrugged before sighing, "please don't try blind James again though, I know he can be a total jerk and he's just as much as responsible for Michael as you are but please don't take his eye out, he is still my brother. And if only so you don't get expelled, please don't."

"I wasn't trying to blind him, I was going for his chest. Michael's just shorter than James..."

Scorpius was spared having to talk about it more as the bell for the first class rang out and everyone started shuffling out, he overheard James complaining to his friends about Gryffindor being mad at him for losing points when it was clearly Scorpius' fault. Scorpius wondered if he was a bad person for being cheered up marginally by James' misery as they headed off to Charms, he did keep his eye out for Michael but didn't see him. The trio talked to him about work he'd missed in Charms until they arrived at the classroom, taking their usual seats.

He noticed Grant sitting at the table staring at him with his beady little eyes and his friends' speech faded out, Grant's injuries seemed to have healed well enough. He either hadn't been injured at all and was completely faking it to look innocent _or_ he was so insanely dedicated to the Shadows that he had allowed himself to be injured to look innocent. He had to be the one working with the Shadows, Scorpius knew it was him. He _knew_ it. It explained why Grant hated him, it explained why he had been so desperate for Calderon to expel him, to make him an easy target for them. It could even explain why he'd been such a jerk to Michael, Michael had stopped the Shadows from abducting him in Diagon Alley... Michael had saved him. And he'd blinded him.

"I see you're back from your suspension," Grant stated as he stood up and approached Scorpius, the look of loathing was unmasked.

"Clearly," Scorpius said firmly, holding the man's gaze determinedly.

"You missed work."

"I figured."

"Here," Grant offered as he shoved a piece of parchment in Scorpius' hands, "its a list of what we covered while you were absent with the appropriate chapters that I want you to read through, Calderon is most insistent that both of you don't suffer for missing weeks of your education. At the end of the month I shall arrange for you to come after class so we can go through it and make sure you're caught up. Understand?"

"Yes," Scorpius told him icily although he was fairly sure without Calderon that Grant would be perfectly content to just leave him a few weeks behind the rest of the class.

Grant nodded curtly and went to the front of the class to begin the lesson, his beaming smile on his face once more as he addressed the cheerful looking students. Scorpius was half about to ask why they were starting without Michael when he noticed that his friend must have slipped in while he was occupied with Grant, he was sitting opposite him across from the space where Grant stood to lecture.

The bandages were gone from his face as were the stitches but the mark of Scorpius - and James' - work remained, the jagged wound was now closed up but the scar remained livid on his skin. The eye was somewhat disturbing, the spell had cut straight through the pupil and iris, as a result seeming to eliminate them completely, replacing the bright hazel with a gaping vertical wound. The mismatched eyes seemed to remain in unison though, both of them were glancing between Grant and the page, giving the impression that Michael could see from the creepy vertical wound that - from across the room anyway - looked like it had been taken from some kind of demonic snake. He knew Michael couldn't see out of it but it still looked where he did.

* * *

_"Lumus!" Sal cried as she waved the wand in a way similar to what Brutus had told her to do but nothing happened, she flinched and looked at Brutus with a petrified look while a fire started in the corner of the room._

_"I'm not going to torture you if you get it wrong, Sal," Brutus offered trying to make his voice sound soothing which was actually not that easy, "I'm trying to help you not... what Rodolphus is doing, I use to struggle with spells too - except kind of dueling, defense against the dark artsy spells - and while I wasn't tortured, I was always told off and insulted for it by my grandparents. They used to take it in turns sending me Howlers whenever I did a spell wrong, everyone thought it was hilarious... but not the point, the point is that bad things happening to you for failing is not helpful. It just makes you stressed and upset which makes it harder to succeed at the next thing, torture has got to have a much more severe effect than Howlers which is why I think you and Tommy struggle so much when very clearly you both have power."_

_"So what does help?"_

_"You're saying it wrong, its Lumos not Lumus. Loo-mos. There's no need to rush, you'll get it in your own time so just say it a few times first to make sure you know it and weren't in so much of a hurry that you weren't really paying attention. Without waving the wand," Brutus explained and Sal patiently repeated the correct pronunciation, when Brutus was content he moved back over to her and guided her hand in the correct movement for the spell, "alright good, now you were slightly off on the wand movement too, its slightly more like this. Practice that a few times too."_

_"Alright," Sal nodded as she practiced and perfected the wand movement._

_"Good, now try again."_

_"Lumos," Sal tried again flourishing the wand correctly but still produced no light, she scowled worriedly and looked at him in askance to explain her failure._

_"Say it like you actually believe it will work," Brutus told her seriously, "you control the magic and if you don't believe it will work than subconsciously you're fighting against the magic and the magic is losing. Keep trying, every failed attempt is one closer to your successful attempt."_

_"You really think I can do it?"_

_"Don't you think you can do it?"_

_"I... don't know," Sal admitted slowly, looking thoughtful as she fiddled with the wand in her hands, "but I see your point, if a part of you is telling magic to do things and another part of you isn't then the magic doesn't know what to do, you need focus to properly perform magic."_

_"Exactly!" Brutus agreed, pleased that she seemed to grasp it before the door lock clicked open and he hurriedly snatched his wand back in time before the door swung open. _

_Brutus shivered violently, both from the Dementors and Shadows as they came down into the basement that had actually been bearably not cold until then. He glanced up the stairs and saw as Rodolphus violently kicked Tommy down the stairs, Tommy whimpered in pain and curled up in a ball on the floor at the bottom of the steps. Rodolphus gave a sadistic satisfied smirk and slammed shut the door, Brutus still had the rest of his shift after all. He helped Tommy to sit up, the poor boy was trembling, his face was blotchy from bruises again and blood was dribbling from his mouth. Despite Tommy's somewhat terrifying display of magic, Brutus still felt bad for him and attempted to heal the injuries which wasn't easy with the Dementors. Tommy closed his exhausted eyes hopelessly and rested his battered head against the wooden bannister, hugging his arms around himself._

_"If you didn't want to be tortured then you should have just killed him or let me kill him and then we'd be free," Sal pointed out unsympathetically as she crossed her arms._

_"Rather suffer than watch other people suffer," Tommy said defensively, "I don't like watching people suffer. Even bad people. It just reminds me what it feels like and then I feel bad."_

_"That's no excuse for not killing him!"_

_"Now's not the time," Brutus intervened before they could start arguing, Tommy didn't look like he had it in him to go another round anyway, his eyes were fluttering closed tiredly and a second later he was asleep. Or possibly passed out. Brutus sighed and scooped up Tommy's worryingly light body, carrying him over to the mattress and blankets that passed for a bed. Brutus lay him down and threw the blanket over him, he could probably use some rest. Brutus shivered again at the cold, even though the Dementors had orders to stay away from the guarding Dementors it didn't wholly help or maybe it was the Shadows still that made him so cold. Or possibly both? How was he supposed to know these things? "can you please send the Shadows away? I know it doesn't effect you but I'm freezing."_

_"Could just be Dementors, only you think Shadows make you cold," Sal told him unhelpfully, "you should be glad though, it could be useful having a special sense to spot the Shadows."  
_

_"Well we won't know unless you try it."_

_"I can't."_

_"Why?"_

_"Because I'm not the Shadow Master."_

* * *

"Hey Michael!" Scorpius called out anxiously as they all filed out of Charms to head to the next lesson, jogging to keep up to Michael, who was surprisingly fast for someone so short. He was looking at a letter as he walked but pocketed it as Scorpius reached him, glancing at him with his newly mismatched eyes, the scar was even more noticeable close up and the eye still disturbing. The worst part for Scorpius really wasn't the injury itself but seeing it on Michael, he hadn't had that before. _You did that to him_, his mind reminded his already guilty conscience and his mouth struggled to find words, "how... how are you doing?"

"I'm doing fine," Michael told him as they continued walking on the way to the next class.

"How's your eye?"

"It hurts."

"I'm sorry," Scorpius apologized glumly and Michael sighed.

"Okay here's the deal. Stop telling me you're sorry and I'll forgive you," Michael offered and Scorpius blinked in surprise.

"Are you being serious?"

"Yes!" Michael told him and smiled comfortingly, making the part of the scar on his cheek move, "its not a big deal, just a scar and I have plenty of those, I still have my other eye and even my injured eye isn't completely blind. You know if its bright then everything is white instead of black if I close my good eye?"

"We're really okay?" Scorpius said slowly, unsure whether Michael was genuinely smiling or putting on one of his extremely convincing fake smiles and didn't think seeing a vacuum of white instead of black made up for losing vision.

"If you stop apologizing. Don't look so shocked, life doesn't stop just because something bad happens, you just have to put one foot forwards and get on with it."


	33. II: Struggling

"You're really not mad?" Scorpius asked worriedly.

"I'm really not mad," Michael confirmed as they reached Transfiguration, "why does it surprise you so much? Anger will just consume you if you let it, make you a mean bitter person and I don't want that. You have to learn to not let James get to you though, whatever he says you just have to not let it get to you. Count backwards from ten until you're calm and walk away."

"Its not that easy to ignore somethings."

"I didn't say it was easy, I said you have to learn to deal with it."

"You wouldn't understand, you've never been through what I have."

"That's right, I've never been abused in any way shape or form at any point in my life and we should all remember that," Michael said seriously as Florian gestured for them to come into the classroom, Scorpius noticed that unlike Grant, Florian's hands were still bandaged, "but you still have to ignore James, just walk away and go tell Calderon and he'll expel James and you'll never have to deal with him again."

"What if I walk away and James curses me behind my back?"

"Then James will get expelled and you'll never have to deal with him again."

"Scorpius Malfoy, a quick word?" Florian interrupted holding a hand across to block Scorpius, he nodded and Michael continued on without him. Florian's ever present grin remained and his violently violet eyes seemed even brighter than Scorpius remembered, he clapped his bandaged hands together cheerfully, "as you are aware, you missed several weeks of school and as a result will be slightly behind. You are the best student in your year - for Transfiguration at least - so I don't think it will take you long to catch up however you still must. We have our double lesson last thing on a Friday so if its alright with you, I wanted you to stay for a bit to catch up on what you've missed. How long is up to you, although the longer you stay the less sessions you'll need but I understand you have Quidditch practices and things. Does that sound alright?"

"Sounds good," Scorpius agreed and Florian's grin widened as he clapped his hands together once more.

"Excellent! With any luck you should be back on track by December. Now go on and take your seat."

Scorpius nodded and turned back to the classroom, most of his friends were sitting on their usual side with Rose's new boyfriend and a bunch of Ravenclaws while Michael was sitting on the opposite side all by himself. Scorpius scowled as he went over to Michael who already had his things out and quill in hand ready to take notes as he did during lessons, he'd put his book bag on the seat beside him.

"Um... Can I sit there?" Scorpius asked hesitantly.

"If you want," Michael shrugged and moved the bag so Scorpius could sit.

"Any reason why you're sitting here and not with the others?"

"They'd much rather sit with Ravenclaws, barely literate scarred retards are too stupid to sit with Ravenclaws or at least not with Devin Copper's group because it makes him look bad."

"Did he say that to you?"

"No," Michael said quickly but Florian started the lesson before Scorpius could reply.

Scorpius did notice the difference in Michael during the lesson, usually Michael would be the one to make conversation but he focused solely on the work. He would talk if Scorpius made attempts at conversation but didn't initiate himself or try very hard to keep it going, their positions had been reversed only Scorpius wasn't half as good at thinking of things to talk about or say than Michael was. Scorpius was afraid to mention Quidditch or the Ravenclaws again in case he broke the tenuous thread of forgiveness. He was almost relieved when the lesson ended for lunch - with any luck he'd get to see Molly - before Michael started heading in the opposite direction to everyone else heading for the Great Hall, Scorpius reluctantly went after him to find him looking at the letter again that he hastily pocketed when Scorpius approached him.

"Aren't you going to lunch?" Michael questioned as he paused in his walk.

"Aren't you?" Scorpius countered.

"I don't bother with lunch anymore."

"You have to eat."

"I ate at breakfast."

"Come on, you can't just keep skipping meals for... why are you skipping meals?" Scorpius risked asking and Michael looked at the floor.

"I don't like how people look at me and I don't need to eat a lot anyway, its no big deal so go to lunch and I'll see you next class."

"Where are you going to go?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

"Sure I would."

"Okay," Michael said slowly but didn't look the slightest bit convinced, "to the room that doesn't exist."

"Seriously, where are you going to go?" Scorpius asked and tried not to scowl at Michael's lie but his friend only sighed.

"Like I said, you wouldn't believe me. I'll see you later."

Michael walked off and Scorpius stood unsurely for a moment, trying to decide whether he should go after him or just go to lunch. He decided on lunch, it had to be lunch anyway as Michael was out of sight and Scorpius had no idea where he'd gone to after him anyway. He started to feel guiltier as he trudged along, had his curse really had that much of an effect on Michael? And he knew he should have gone after Michael and convinced him to have lunch, Michael had always made sure he'd eaten and even brought food back before when Scorpius had skipped meals at the start of the first year. And Scorpius had just let him walk away. To go hang out at some secret place. Scorpius had no idea what to do about it. He didn't like his friends divided and he didn't like the others hanging out with strange Ravenclaws, he wished things were back how they'd been before his suspension.

He reached the Great Hall, noticing again the daggers looks he got from Gryffindors as he moved along the table to where Abby, Albus and Rose were sitting. He didn't see Molly at the table again but then people were still filing in, she was probably just slow getting there depending on where her last class had been. His friends weren't sitting with Corin and Maurice again, he'd found it an inconvenience to sit with them before but now it bothered him even more that they weren't there. He didn't like change.

"Why did Corin and Maurice stop sitting with you?" Scorpius asked as he begrudgingly started filling his plate.

"They were friends with you, not us," Albus shrugged through a mouthful of food, "when you got suspended they left us alone."

"Good riddance," Rose commented stiffly, "Maurice is disturbing and creepy."

"And you're an uptight bossy bitch," Maurice countered and Rose jumped as he appeared behind her, his hand on his crystal as he slotted in beside Scorpius with Corin in tow.

"What did you call me?!"

"At least I had the decency to say it to you instead of while you weren't around," Maurice offered and Rose glared at him furiously as he turned to Scorpius, "welcome back, Scor."

"Thanks," Scorpius nodded in acknowledgement and Maurice smiled his cold smile.

"And that was awesome what you did by the way, or what you tried to do anyway if Michael hadn't gotten in the way."

"You think its awesome he tried to curse my brother with the unhealable spell?!" Albus exclaimed.

"Of course, had I not been saying to do that for weeks? I'm glad someone finally listened. James deserves it."

"See, disturbing and creepy," Rose pointed out, "not to mention completely psychotic."

"Why is it psychotic? Your fathers are Aurors for a living, they go after criminals to lock them up and in the act of doing that sometimes they injure or kill them. Its basically the same thing, getting back someone who has wronged another."

"Its not even close to the same thing!"

"My brother isn't a criminal!" Albus protested, "and our fathers bring justice!"

"Don't the victims of James' bullying deserve justice?," Maurice asked completely calmly, "or do you think its okay for him to torment two of your friends? Not to mention countless others."

"We are so not having this conversation again," Corin interrupted in a firm tone, "Maurice believes its justified to use the Acutus Curse on bullies, the rest of us don't and no one is going to convince the others so let's all just drop it and talk about something else. Okay? Got it? Good."

"Hey there was something I wanted to ask you, Maurice," Scorpius spoke up, grateful for Corin's intervention in the change of subject, "why do the Aurors think that your father is involved with the Scamander twins disappearance?"

"I don't know," Maurice shrugged, "they were on him last year about the other boy that went missing too. You'd think the fact he was in a whole other country would make the Aurors realize he couldn't be involved."

"Did you ask him about it?"

"Of course, he said 'ask me about it again and you get lines. Now leave.' How do you know they think he's involved?"

"I saw him before I came back here, he was yelling at Harry Potter about being unfairly followed by Aurors."

"They should just arrest him," Rose stated seriously, "he attacked Uncle Percy at Aunt Audrey's funeral and now is kidnapping children."

"My father isn't kidnapping children!" Maurice protested, anger rolling in his ocean colored eyes, "he had nothing to do with any of it, my father is a good man."

"No he isn't!" Corin exclaimed looking exasperated, "he's a horrible person, _especially_ to you, how can you possibly defend him?!"

"I've told you a thousand times, he has to be strict with me because I'm deaf and steps have to be taken to ensure it doesn't hold me back because if it holds me back then what use am I? Just because you don't like him, it doesn't make him a kidnapper."

"Whether he's a kidnapper or not, he's not a good person and he's the worst father in existence."

"He's not a kidnapper. He was really shaken after they talked to him the first time, most upset I've ever seen him since he pulled me out of the school I went to before Beauxbatons."

"Maybe he was upset that they were onto him?" Abby offered.

"They weren't onto him because he didn't do anything to those missing boys."

"I actually don't care who took them, I just want Lorcan and Lysander to be okay," Albus said quietly and Rose nodded in agreement, "Aunt Luna and Uncle Rolf are beside themselves."

The conversation died off for awhile and they just ate in silence for awhile, ultimately Rose started it up again as she started telling Scorpius and Corin - Maurice casually let go of his necklace as to not hear - about how wonderful her boyfriend was since they didn't know anything about him. Scorpius was almost relieved again when the bell rang before he was reminded they had a double Potions period next by Albus who began talking about how much amazing it was to be able to see Vipera's beautiful wrist now it was healed.

"Speaking of crushes, how's Molly? I haven't had a chance to talk to her yet," Scorpius interrupted while Albus was struggling to think of another word to describe her beautiful wrist, Albus, Abby and Rose immediately looked away from him again. Maurice wasn't paying attention to the conversation as they walked but Corin seemed completely unfazed.

"There's great news!" Corin exclaimed and the trio began motioning for him to shut up but Corin either didn't notice, understand or care because he continued, "Molly has a boyfriend now too, she's dating Abby's brother so you can stop having a crush on her."

"What?!" Scorpius shrieked and Corin looked suddenly nervous.

"Well um... you heard. We have to go off in a different direction now, see you Scor."

"Molly is dating your brother?!" Scorpius continued furiously rounding on his trio of friends as Corin went off in the other direction with Maurice, "and you didn't tell me?!"

"We thought you might be upset," Albus offered.

"Your wrist is on fire," Abby pointed out worriedly.

"Good!" Scorpius snapped glancing briefly at the flames that were circling his wrist but not hurting him, "it should burn! What the hell is wrong with your brother?! How can he go out with Molly?! How long has this been going on?! She wasn't interested in him last year!"

"Since like the first Hogsmeade weekend, he asked her to go with him rather than hang out alone and then they kind of started dating. Aren't you worried about your wrist?!"

"My wrist just does that sometimes when I'm angry! It doesn't hurt!"

"I don't think that's normal," Rose offered unhelpfully.

"Who cares! Molly has a boyfriend!"

"You didn't have much of a chance anyway, no offense, because she is two years older than you."

"Yeah, maybe they'll break up by the time you're old enough to interest her!" Albus said brightly.

"You shouldn't say that!" Abby protested, "if they're happy together than its none of our business."

"How can they be happy together?! Your brother is a Slytherin and on the Quidditch team, she's dating the enemy! What does he have that I don't?!" Scorpius demanded irritably, "you know, apart from age and height and looks and hair and having known her for longer and sharing classes with her and having the same position as her in Quidditch so they have more in common and not being weak and pathetic and... damn him."

The fire went out on Scorpius although his wrist continued to burn during Potions, feeling miserable that Molly was dating someone better than him and even worse, had started dating him because Scorpius hadn't been there to hang out with her like she'd asked him too. Really he only had himself to blame for losing her forever. He debated briefly somehow trying to break her and Nick up but he wasn't that cruel, besides her happiness was more important than Scorpius being with her. It hurt and he hated it but he hated himself more, he only had himself to blame after all. He'd destroyed his chance with Molly just like he'd destroyed Michael's eye, guiltily he wondered if he'd destroyed Michael's chances with his mystery crush too.

Scorpius completely forgot about finding Michael until he was already sitting with his other friends and a scan revealed Michael sitting at the far back alone, his eyes glued to that letter. Much like his previous two lessons, Vipera took him aside to arrange for him to catch up, like Florian she wanted extra classes with him - much to Albus' distress. Albus was rambling about getting suspended to have to catch up and being able to spend time with her as the they headed for Herbology, Scorpius had been meaning to walk with Michael but had lost sight of him in the crowd of students until they were at Herbology where Scorpius made sure to stand beside him.

Professor Longbottom still was missing one arm but seemed in good spirits nonetheless, or maybe it was just because he was so enthusiastic about plants. Again Scorpius struggled to make conversation with Michael, he wished Michael would just talk like he would before because Scorpius really wasn't good at initiating conversation himself especially with his mood soured from hearing about Molly but silence bothered him even more, he missed talking to his friends. Professor Longbottom called him back after class to arrange for sessions to catch up as well, Michael didn't wait for him - nor did Rose - but Abby and Albus at least had.

"Where are the others?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"Rose went to go meet up with Copper," Abby explained as they started heading back towards the main castle, it was cold outside, "we were going to join them in the library if you're up for that."

"What about Michael?"

"Michael always slips away and goes wherever he goes these days."

"Well we should try to find him, he shouldn't be alone just because he's self-conscious about his face."

"Is that why he likes to be alone?" Albus questioned.

"Its why he skips meals at least so come on, where would he have gone?"

"We tried asking but he just says that room, the one that doesn't exist, if he doesn't want to say then he could at least not lie."

"We should try the Library, Gryffindor Tower and the Great Hall, that's kind of where people hang out," Abby offered as they made it back inside the castle.

"Sounds like a plan," Scorpius agreed while Albus nodded in agreement and they headed off, "is your dad getting a prosthetic soon for his arm?"

"Over Christmas, they need to fit and it may take some getting used to so he said he'd rather wait until the holidays."

"Cool."

They tried the Library first where Rose was studying with her boyfriend and his Ravenclaw friends but there was no sign of Michael. They tried the Great Hall but he wasn't there either and finally they tried Gryffindor Tower, Michael wasn't in the Common Rooms or their dormitory and they even checked the bathroom but it was empty. When they clambered back down the stairs, Scorpius did notice Dom sitting writing something.

"Hang on, I just need to talk to Dom for a sec," Scorpius told the others as he went over to her, "hey Dom."

"Hey Scorpius," Dom greeted him neutrally with a flick of her eyes in his direction as acknowledgement.

"Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Depends what it is."

"Are you still friends with Aurelius Ashain?" Scorpius asked and she smiled brightly.

"Yep. Writing a letter to him now in fact. He's really great, I'm actually succeeding in Transfiguration and Potions thanks to him and I even have a boyfriend now but still make time to write to him. Makes me feel bad that his life still sucks and I can't do much to help him."

"Can he still make vultures work like owls?"

"Yep. He's smart like that."

"Could you ask him if he'd consider letting me use one of them?"

"Why?" Dom questioned curiously looking up properly.

"Could you just ask him please? I'd just like to use one if I could."

"Sure. I'll ask him."

"Thanks," Scorpius said with a slightly forced smile to express his gratitude before rejoining the others.

They continued their search for Michael in places of decreasing likeness but still didn't find him, eventually giving up in favor of homework and Scorpius had to endure sitting with the Ravenclaws. Copper he noticed, was very fond of bragging. Scorpius also noticed they had a habit of asking him what his answer to a certain question was to 'compare notes' then would hurriedly start scribbling down and would give extremely vague answers if he asked the question, Scorpius really didn't like it and found an excuse to leave - lying about needing to unpack and returning to his dormitory to work on his homework alone.

Scorpius actually thought he preferred suspension, he didn't like his friends being divided, he didn't like Molly dating Nick and he didn't like Michael wondering off on his own to... wherever. He fingered the friendship bracelet on his wrist miserably, Michael had always been by his side even when Scorpius hadn't thought he wanted a friend or when the others turned on him or lost their memory, he had still been there but now he didn't try to sit with him or wait for him or try talk to him or do their homework together or play Quidditch together. Scorpius missed that. Forgiven or not things were different. Scorpius didn't like different.

He went down to dinner but Michael wasn't there either, Molly was though but she was sitting with Freddie and his girlfriend. She didn't notice and Scorpius for which he was grateful, he'd been hoping that at least her dating Nick would end his crush on her but he started to sweat when he saw her, his breathing quickened and his heart twisted painfully at her being with someone else. Miserably he joined his other friends, feeling Michael's absence once more. Michael would be the one that Scorpius would talk to about it, it felt weird talking to the others with Molly being Albus and Rose's cousin and Nick being Abby's brother. He picked at his food miserably, completely devoid of appetite. He would have to find someone to get the old Michael back and repair their relationship properly, he had to.

When they returned to the dormitory Michael wasn't there either, the others insisted it was normal and that Scorpius should just get ready to bed as usual. Scorpius wasn't convinced but did so anyway, waiting for the curfew for when the Prefects would have to do something. In panic he wondered whether Ellisar or other Shadow Aurors would have done anything to Michael, it wasn't safe for Michael to be alone. The minute before curfew Michael returned though, unharmed and after a few minutes in the bathroom he climbed into bed and pulled shut the drapes like Scorpius always did. Scorpius hadn't said anything purposely waiting to see what Michael would say but he hadn't even said goodnight, miserably Scorpius pulled his own drapes shut and slowly slipped into an uneasy sleep.

_"Marvin?" Scorpius questioned fearfully over the ringing in his ears as he gazed down at the green eyes, glittering in the light from the headlights of the parked van but staring back at him sightlessly._

_The night suddenly felt so still, Scorpius was very aware of his own breathing and beating heart because Marvin didn't seem to have them. There was no movement, not a twitch, not a blink of the eye. His chest wasn't rising and falling. No breath was leaving his lips. He wasn't moving. He wasn't breathing. There was a tear in the center of his shirt that hadn't been there before, a rip with a red stain seeping through the fabric from the small hole in his chest. Scorpius gulped nervously, he'd never seen a corpse before, he'd never seen someone die either but he was certain Marvin was dead. He was so lifeless._

_Scorpius realized he'd stopped crying. Every beat of his heart pulsed another wave of fear through his soul but he wasn't crying, he didn't even feel like crying. He wondered if he was supposed to feel something, there was a dead man lying in front of him but he felt nothing. He wasn't sad. He wasn't happy. He just felt... empty, there was nothing left to feel._

_He sat back down on the dirt without taking his eyes from Marvin, expecting at any moment for Marvin's killer to step from the darkness and make themselves known. His hand carefully pried the cold gun from Marvin's fingers and gripped it tightly on the ground, fearing his savior was just another muggle who wanted to hurt him too, muggles were bad. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to bring himself to use it or if he even could but it made him feel slightly comforted knowing he wasn't completely helpless. He hoped it was a witch or wizard though, come to lift him from his nightmare and take him home, he just wanted to go home. No one came though._

_Scorpius started to feel even more afraid, why weren't they showing themselves? Someone had to have killed Marvin, why would they do that and then just leave him? For better or for worse, he was in the middle of nowhere and had no idea how to get back. He hadn't heard anything, no sound of a second person and there'd only been one bang that could have masked one apparation. Where they just standing there? Completely still and silent, the night was so quiet it was unbearable. He gripped the gun tighter and even more horrible thought struck him, had he killed Marvin?_

_He felt a cold flood through him that had nothing to do with the chill in the air. Surely that wasn't true, he couldn't have killed Marvin. He just couldn't. He was just a kid, he didn't even have a wand, he hadn't meant to. He couldn't be a murderer, he didn't want to be a murderer, he wasn't a murderer. He wasn't. Even if Marvin deserved it. You couldn't just kill someone by accident? Could you? No, it had to have been someone else and they were just standing there creepily silent because Scorpius was pretty sure people didn't die with holes in their chests of natural causes. Someone had killed Marvin. Someone..._

_"It wasn't me!" Scorpius cried to no one in particular and was running before he realized it._

_He didn't know why he hadn't ran before, he had to run, he had to get away. Away from Marvin's corpse, away from Marvin's gun, away from Marvin's van. He just had to be away, he just had to get away, he didn't care where he was going, he just had to run._

_Abruptly his ankle caught on something and twisted painfully, he fell hard onto the uncaring ground. He just lay there in the dirt, breathing heavily from the exertion and trying to ignore the pain. He squeezed shut his eyes, he didn't want to be there. He just wanted to go home, he just wanted to be away. He heard a pop and his eyes snapped open again, there was a faint light from the end of the stick the newcomer was holding. A wand. Scorpius realized suddenly, it was a magical person._

_The stranger offered him their free hand, Scorpius blinked in surprise at the oddness of the large hand. The stranger had six fingers rather than five and all of them seemed the wrong lengths and angled slightly the wrong way, Scorpius didn't care though, help was help and at that point he didn't care who. He took the stranger's hand and was awkwardly helped to the feet, he kept his eyes on the ground on his injured ankle as moving it was painful but bearable. _

_"Thank you," Scorpius whispered._

_He held tight to the stranger's misshapen hand for support, the hulking muscular man was easily strong enough to handle it and Scorpius eyes trailed from the hand to the arm. The man had his sleeve rolled up, on the inside of the thick forearm was a skeletal snake twisted into a random position with its head in the center, the forked tongue flicked at him as its body shifted. It looked like it had been burned into the skin, a brand, a strange brand that seemed to move or maybe he was just seeing things in the dark. He went to flick his eyes to his silent savior's face but a jet of light struck him from the wand, he collapsed against the man, unconscious the second the spell had touched him..._


	34. II: In Denial

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, SDF and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Does Michael really forgive Scorpius, he don't seem like it?_**  
_He does forgive Scorpius but he's still upset about losing his eye and has things on his mind_

* * *

Scorpius woke with a start. It had been awhile since he'd had a memory dream and he'd never dreamed about after Marvin's death before, he just sat there in the still silence listening to the beat of his heart. He hadn't actually given it a lot of thought or any thought, he tried very hard not to think of anything related to the whole ordeal but now... Had he dreamed it correctly? His savior couldn't possibly be one of the Shadows, the Shadows who were responsible for his grandfather losing his soul, Molly's mother losing her life - not to mention countless others - and who had nearly cost Professor Ashain his.

They couldn't have been involved in his rescue, they were responsible for so much pain and death, why would they even want to save him from his own pain and death? They couldn't be... Or could they? He'd known for awhile the man who had claimed to have saved him wasn't the man who'd saved him. He'd always thought the Shadows' symbol looked familiar. And his grandfather had been involved with them, maybe he'd had a hand in Scorpius' freedom? Had his other family members been involved with the Shadows if they really had hired them to save him? _No, the Shadows weren't involved_, Scorpius told himself firmly and hugged his knees to his chest, he couldn't owe his life to the maniacs he was trying to stop and destroy.

His thoughts drifted to the boy from his dreams the previous year, the Shadows had been involved with hie entire ordeal, it was the only way he could've known about the attack on Azkaban before it actually happened if the six fingered man and the others had been involved with it. _NO, it was a dream!_ he told himself even more forcefully, or more likely some kind of semi-mental breakdown but it hadn't been real. He _knew_ it hadn't. It couldn't have been, people just weren't randomly connected to each other mentally. And it had been muggles who'd hurt him and only muggles, magical folk were still safe to be around. It was just muggles. It couldn't have been real, he refused to believe it was real.

There were other explanations, it was all psychological especially since now he knew his grandfather had been involved with the Shadows. Subconsciously Scorpius must have realized his grandfather was involved with the Shadows and realized his grandfather at least knew about the attack on Azkaban and the Shadows and Azkaban had worked their way into his dreams, a Bludger to the head had just knocked a few bristles off his broom and caused it all. Now was the same, talking about missing boys earlier and everything Shadow-fighting orientated with Varanian had just combined them into his dream. He'd been hurt and distraught and it had been so dark there was no way Scorpius could have noticed the symbol, he wasn't _that_ observant, it had just been melded into the memory because it was on his mind. Simple.

Scorpius was gratefully pulled from his thoughts by the sounds of rustling and movement, he was surprised as it seemed really early for someone to be up. He carefully reached out and pulled back one of the drapes, seeing Michael was the source of the noise. He was awake and fully dressed in his school robes, holding that letter in his hands again as he scanned it with his mismatched eyes.

"That from your mother?" Scorpius asked quietly, partly for curiosity and partly to take his mind off his thoughts. Michael pocketed it as he shook his head.

"Its from my stepdad," Michael answered in a whisper, "its really early, go back to sleep."

"Why are you up?"

"I always get up this early for breakfast."

"Can I come?"

"If you don't mind missing out on some sleep then sure."

"I couldn't sleep right now if I tried," Scorpius admitted closing the drapes, "just give me a minute to get dressed."

"Okay."

Scorpius got dressed quickly and pulled back the drapes to find Michael had gone on without him, frustratedly Scorpius threw his arms in the air and headed down to the Common Room. He immediately regretted his frustration when he realized Michael was waiting for him down there instead, hovering near the exit scanning over his stepdad's letter again that he immediately put away when he noticed Scorpius was there.

"Why do you look so surprised?" Michael wondered curiously as they headed out.

"Wasn't sure you'd wait for me, you didn't yesterday," Scorpius pointed out, "we spent ages trying to find you."

"Why?"

"What do you mean why? Because we're your friends and we like hanging out with you. Don't you like hanging out with us?"

"I don't like hanging out with Rose's boyfriend and his Ravenclaw friends."

"I'm not keen on them either, in fact yesterday I excused myself and did my homework alone. I don't mean them, I mean you know us being friends again and you not wondering off alone all the time."

"I'm not alone all the time," Michael protested.

"Well good because its not healthy or safe, especially with the Aurors around."

"The Aurors are here for our protection."

"What we really need though is protection from _them_," Scorpius pointed seriously and Michael looked at him with an anxious expression, "what?"

"You just sound kind of paranoid is all," Michael said worriedly, "what did the Aurors ever do to you?"

"Aside from unfairly stalking my family and assuming they're involved with the Shadows? They refuse to believe me about Varanian being innocent," Scorpius explained and bit his tongue, he couldn't tell Michael about the attempt on Varanian's life.

"Scorpius, I'm not even sure that I believe you about Varanian being innocent."

"How can you even say that?!" Scorpius gasped in shock, of all people he expected Michael to believe him.

"Don't get me wrong, I think the Aurors were wrong to be so dismissive of you and I believe you about Duvall and I don't think Varanian did anything to yours or Calderon's memories and I don't think he's really the Shadow Master either. I mean if no Shadows have been caught because they have the resources to remain underground then surly they would have the resources to hide their leader but there's been sightings of Varanian, clearly Varanian does not have access to the resources of the Shadows," Michael informed him, "but that doesn't mean Varanian himself is innocent and that he was being controlled, he could have had some kind of deal with the Shadows that went sour."

"He was possessed, Michael trust me, I know he was. He feels terrible about it and he'd risk his life doing something good to make up for it," Scorpius said and realized he was subconsciously fiddling with the ring he could use to communicate with Varanian, he quickly let go but Michael seemed to notice anyway, "I'd bet my life on it."

"Okay... Is that a wedding ring?"

"Of course not, its just something my grandmother gave me for good luck. You know grandmothers."

"I nearly knew my grandmothers, they both died long before I was born," Michael told him quietly as they reached the Great Hall, it was nearly empty except for the Flying Instructor, an older Ravenclaw girl and a boy he recognized as the Ravenclaw Seeker, "grandfathers too."

"Well I didn't know that, you don't talk much about your family," Scorpius pointed out as they sat down at the Gryffindor table and started putting food onto their plates.

"Not much to say," Michael told him indifferently as he went to pour some juice only to miss the goblet and pour it onto the table instead, a mixture of hurt and frustration crossed his face as he hastily tried to clean it up, "stupid eye."

"Do you want some help?" Scorpius offered as he started to dab at the spilled liquid with a napkin.

"No!" Michael snapped and pushed his hands away, "I can do it!"

"Okay," Scorpius muttered resignedly as he sadly watched Michael clean it up, "does... does that happen often?"

"No... Not that I'm getting used to it anyway, have to be more observant to make up for the lack of an eye, depth perception and stuff."

"You know, you could always get a prosthetic eye," Scorpius offered cautiously as they went back to eating their food, "they're really good, you can actually see out of them and they can actually see better than your real eye."

"I don't need a prosthetic eye, I still _have_ my eye, see," Michael protested as he gestured to the grotesque eye with the scar running through it.

"But you can't _see_ out of it so its... useless, you'd be better off with a prosthetic and I can pay for it."

"My eye isn't useless! It still looks up and down or left and right when I look and... and if there's light then everything is pitch white instead of pitch black or a lighter black..."

"But a prosthetic could see properly and they can do cool things like see through things and-"

"I don't _want_ a magical prosthetic eye that can do things!" Michael interrupted looking even more upset, "I... I want _my_ eye."

"Even though its useless?"

"Its not useless! I'm not ripping out my actual flesh and blood eye to replace it with a cold hard magical lump. It could get better."

"I don't think..." Scorpius started to say but trailed off as he noticed Michael wiping an eye quickly, aggravating and upsetting him probably wasn't the best way to prepare their relationship, "so um... did I miss anything interesting?"

"Calderon really outdid himself on Halloween," Michael shrugged prodding at his food with a melancholy expression but seemed to visibly relax at the change of subject, "obviously you missed class stuff, I have notes you could look at but you probably couldn't read them and the teachers seem to be trying to help you catch up in your own time anyway. You missed Quidditch practice too, Molly was hysterical at losing three of her team."

"You still have Quidditch practice?" Scorpius wondered brightly recalling how much Michael had liked it before but disappointingly his friend shook his head and Scorpius' spirits sank.

"The crack in the face skull and muscle damage needs time to heal, meaning I can't fly until then which the healer thinks won't be until late December to the New Year. Albus didn't get to take my place though, Molly said he wouldn't be her first choice after Louis anyway."

"Well that's not too bad, I mean you'll miss the match against Slytherin but you should be able to play against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw in the new year."

"Scorpius, one eyed people can't be Quidditch players," Michael pointed out solemnly and Scorpius bit back the urge to comment that a prosthetic would solve that problem, "prob-probably for the best, the team is better off with Louis. He'll do a better job then I ever could."

"You should talk to Mol... Did you know Molly has a boyfriend?" Scorpius asked bitterly before he could stop himself.

"Yeah, Abby's older brother," Michael nodded.

"It sucks."

"I know."

"What do you think I should do about it?" Scorpius wondered, both to keep the conversation going and out of curiosity.

"What I think you should do?" Michael repeated thoughtfully, "what do you want do to?"

"I don't know, I want her to like me and date me not him but I don't know how and I think it would be cruel to try break them up."

"If you want her to go out with you then just do nothing."

"Do nothing?"

"Odds are it won't last but if you act angry or cold towards her because you're upset about her dating Nick then you'll lose her friendship and any chance you have of ever being with her. So remain friends with her, she's had enough people deserting her anyway, if you're still friends then she still likes you and it proves your loyal and care about her. Then when they break up, you'll still be on good terms and will have a chance with her."

"You really think that will work?"

"I don't know but its the best advice I got," Michael shrugged as he shoveled down his food while Scorpius picked at his.

"What if they don't break up?" Scorpius wondered worriedly.

"Then if you really care about her, you'll just be glad that she's happy."

* * *

_"What do you mean you're not the Shadow Master?" Brutus wondered looking at Sal, "what does that even mean?"_

_"Well all shadows - not just the Shadows of Dementors - are attached to whatever person or animal or object or thing or whatever they came from, those things are like the shadow's master. If a Shadow is broken from the Dementor then the person who broke it away becomes its new master and it follows them instead, unlike normal shadows though they can be separate from the master if that's what master wills but still completely under their control," Sal explained pacing around and eying the Shadows with a curious expression, "and I'm not the Shadow Master, I didn't break them from the Dementors. But you know, I wonder if its possible to break them from their master just like how they can be magically broken away from the Dementors."_

_"I don't know or care," Brutus admitted truthfully, he didn't like being around Dementors and Shadows, even more so than Death Eaters or his grandparents, "if you didn't break them away from Dementors then who did?"_

_"Who do you think?" Sal retorted folding her arms and jerked her head at her sleeping brother, "Tommy's the Shadow Master not me."_

_"Tommy?"_

_"Does it really surprise you after what you've seen him do accidentally with magic before? He tried to get rid of them before but all he got was less control and they remained bound to him, when this other prisoner grabbed him through the bars the Shadow leaped to his defense and took the guy's soul. Tommy tried to make it stop but failed, it attacked someone else and he managed to get it back under his control before the person lost their soul, that's why he doesn't free them but they're always there."_

_"Well that's... not disturbing at all," Brutus offered sarcastically and shivered._

_"No its not," Sal nodded in agreement, not seeming to notice the sarcasm, "it could be useful, Brutus, if I was the Shadow Master then I could use them to free myself. Imagine what you could do with Shadows at your command."_

_"I'd really rather not."_

* * *

Scorpius found Tuesday to have a similar pattern to Monday, Michael left the Great Hall after he'd finished breakfast when everyone started to arrive and just went to wait at History of Magic early. Scorpius still struggled for conversation which was particularly frustrating since he craved the distraction of having to worry about the Shadows potential involvement in his rescue from the Shadows, Michael seemed as indifferent to the silences as he was to the conversation. At least Michael was slightly better at waiting for him when they were leaving classes although again he slipped away during lunch when Scorpius was distracted by being greeted by Corin, he also noticed Michael took unnecessarily long routes to classes and seemed to try to sit as far away from everyone else as possible. At least he got to have a Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson with Professor Ashain again and unlike his friends, Professor Ashain seemed his usual self.

Then it was Quidditch practice.

It was the first time that Scorpius had ever truly dreaded a Quidditch practice, fearing both that he'd be so badly rusty after a few weeks of no lying that he'd be terrible he would let Molly down and also fearing seeing Molly herself. It was also the first time he'd not looked forward to spending time with her. He wasn't looking forward to seeing James either or that Michael wouldn't be there, in the ideal world it would be the other way around with Michael there and James gone but unfortunately for Scorpius it wasn't.

You could have cut the tension in the air with a knife, the rest of the team went completely silent and looked between James and Scorpius unsurly. James eyed him with a familiar look of loathing and kept glaring at the rest of the team as if bothered by their lack of greeting, Latimer alone seemed unfazed and promptly went over to Scorpius to strike up conversation about how he was finding being back. James looked at Latimer like he was something disgusting at the bottom of his show before attempting to talk to his cousins and Freddie's girlfriend, Scorpius was too busy talking with Latimer about trivial things to hear but he noticed James' mouth moving a lot more than theirs and James seemed frustrated.

"Alright team!" Molly announced as she arrived briskly, Scorpius' breath caught in his throat as he drank in the sight of her, her fiery hair billowing beautifully in the wind behind her. His palms were sweating again as they all turned their attention to her, "as you know, we are supposed to play Slytherin this weekend while Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw play each other two weeks after that. Due to events though, it has been agreed that we swap so Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw play this weekend while we take on Slytherin in their slot. So you can relax slightly as we will have more than a week to prepare with our returned team members.

"Now James and Scor, very obviously you have issues with each other but Calderon's complete lack of interest in Quidditch spared you from being banned from the team. For now I'm keeping you on the team, however if you put one toe out of line, any dueling, any fighting or otherwise causing harm to each other or fellow team members, any spitting, slapping, any exchanging of words not positive or related to Quidditch, even so much as looking at each other funny and you will be off the team, you'll have to face the unspeakable wrath of a Quidditch Captain scorned and I hope you survive to regret it. Understood?"

"Yes," Scorpius and James said in unison.

"Excellent now get in the air, we have work to do!"

Molly seemed serious about her speech, the only really noticeable difference in practice was that she did seem to be keeping an exceedingly close eye on Scorpius and James if they were in the vicinity of each other. The threat of missing out on Quidditch seemed to work for James because he avoided glaring or snide comments, he seemed determined to ignore Scorpius completely in fact. Scorpius was surprised and also surprised by how well he was playing, he may not have been playing Quidditch during his suspension but Varanian's incessant dodging practice had honed his reflexes in a way Scorpius hadn't expected, several of the team praised his reflexes and agility - including Molly - which he had a feeling irked the slightly rusty James, who apparently hadn't been allowed fly as part of his punishment. Scorpius didn't find it as relaxing as usual, in fact it just made him feel guilty. Why should he be allowed to do something he loved when Michael couldn't because of him?

"You gonna help me pack up?" Molly asked of Scorpius after she called the practice to a end, Scorpius nodded numbly and went to help her as he had done before while the others headed back to the castle.

"I um... heard you have a boyfriend," Scorpius couldn't help but say slowly, Molly smiled to his surprise, "is he... is he nice?"

"Yeah he is, Nick Longbottom, he's really great. But don't worry, it won't effect Quidditch, we have this deal about it you see, Keeper's Code of Honor, Nick calls it but..." Molly told him cheerfully before seeming to calm herself which Scorpius felt his heart twist so painfully it hurt to hear her talking so happily about her boyfriend, he wished so badly it was him not Nick, "not what I wanted to talk about. Did you have a good suspension?"

"Was alright," Scorpius commented trying to seem nonchalant as he gave a vague shrug.

"I'm glad, I was worried how you'd be. I almost wrote to you but I was kind of mad at you for what you two did to Michael."

"I don't blame you, I wish I could take it back."

"I know and that's why I forgive you especially since its not wholly your fault, James shares culpability as far as I'm concerned," Molly told him before sighing quietly, "its probably partially my fault too... I dreamed about him getting hurt, jumping in front of a spell and getting blinded in that eye. I didn't see who did it in my dream but I saw him get hurt, if I had warned him... I don't know, maybe it would have made a difference."

"You shouldn't blame yourself, it was just a dream."

"Its another dream I had that came true and maybe it wouldn't have if I wasn't in such denial about my dreams, just because I don't want it to be true that I might be a Seer doesn't mean it isn't true. You can't deny the truth forever," Molly explained and Scorpius was reminded of everything he'd been trying to push out of his mind but he angrily shoved it away again, he wasn't denying any truths because he knew things weren't true, "I just wanted to ask you if you're sure you can handle practicing with James or I'll have to alternate the sessions you come to so you're not together, I don't want anyone else to get hurt again if I can help it and I know James can be an ass."

"I'll be fine," Scorpius promised.

"Good. Glad to have you back, my friend."


	35. II: First Years

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter, Winged-panther1 and Aya Diefair for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_So why does Molly have premonitions?_**  
_She was just born a Seer and the more she does magic (especially Divination which she started last year) the more she taps into her ability, willingly and unwillingly  
_

**_Is Molly's seer abilities gonna play an important part sometime in the series?_**  
_Not really this book but later on in the series_

* * *

Scorpius finished helping Molly pack up and they headed back inside, splitting up sooner than usual because she was meeting Nick in the dungeons. He stalked back in the direction of the Common Rooms furiously, the curse words he'd heard from Professor Ashain rolling through his mind. He wanted to be the one Molly was meeting in the dungeons, he wanted his name to be the one that made her face light up, he wanted to be her boyfriend not her _friend_, it practically sounded like an insult. He knew he shouldn't still like her but he did, he wanted to be the one dating her and he hated that he hadn't done something about it sooner. Not that he could have anyway, he didn't know how to make someone like you or how to get them to go out with you, it couldn't be as simple as just asking. He knew he didn't deserve her, he should be happy that she was happy but he still wished she was with him instead and he couldn't make it stop.

"Hey- Hey wait up!" a voice called and Scorpius froze in horror mid-step, his heart thundering in his chest that after all that time the voice had returned only for Orous to come over from behind him to stand by his side.

"Don't come up behind me, you scared the life out of me," Scorpius complained with a heavy sigh as he relaxed greatly, "I thought I was hearing voices."

"Sorry," Orous mumbled looking down, his voice dropping to his usual low volume and Scorpius noticed some black liquid that looked like ink was matted into the pure white hair and dripping down, "you just didn't seem to notice or stop when I was calling you until I spoke up, you walked right past me."

"Sorry I had stuff on my mind. What happened to your hair?"

"I ran into James and his friends... He took my quill and ink, snapped my quill and poured the ink on my head and said I should be happy and grateful that now I look more normal. But I don't, now I have to wash it off and I have no ink."

"That evil jerk," Scorpius spat angrily, "he hasn't even been back in school that long!"

"Its nothing new, his friends picked on me and Vern all the time while James was suspended. They pick on Michael too, they blame him for James getting suspended."

"Why don't you tell someone?"

"I don't want my dad to worry, he's been very sad since my mum left and I don't want him to think I'm weak either... But its not important, I just wanted to show you something," Orous told him and pulled some parchment out of his robes, "remember when you said that I couldn't make a map of the school?"

"Yeah," Scorpius said slowly as he vaguely recalled it, Orous pushed the paper into his hands nervously.

"I did it. The map of the school. That's it."

Scorpius carefully looked at the parchment, noticing it was all folded up neatly but when you opening it, he saw in fact that it was a map of Hogwarts and accurate too. Orous had drawn all the lines very carefully the walls, doors, even windows were on it and he'd marked the names of the rooms in his neat little handwriting, Scorpius was actually impressed. And then he noticed that Orous had marked a room as 'The Room That Doesn't Exist' on the corridor that Michael had thought there'd been a room before but they hadn't been able to find it.

"Well I guess you were right. Its very good, Orous, but... The Room that Doesn't Exist? There is no room on that floor, Michael got it confused with someplace else."

"No, its there, that's where Michael goes a lot."

"There's _no room there_," Scorpius pointed out slowly and firmly as Orous took the map back, carefully folding it up, "when did you start hanging out with Michael?"

"Sometimes he helps us with homework and stuff. Plus we both eat breakfast really earlier, if we get there at the similar times then we eat together. He's really kind."

"What happened to you?!" Corin's voice demanded so loudly that Orous jumped and looked around fearfully until he saw it was just Corin and Maurice, relaxing slightly which still made him seem on edge, the younger boy always looked somewhat on edge just like he always looked sad. There was still something about him that Scorpius couldn't quite put his finger on.

"James," Orous answered in a nervous whisper, "its not important. I'm just going wash it off, I finished showing Scorpius my map."

"You have got to learn to stand up for yourself," Maurice pointed out with a disapproving snort, "you're more than capable, just do what Scorpius did only make sure that you hit him and not Michael. Try it horizontally then you may be able to get both eyes in one slash."

"Maurice!" Corin burst out in exasperation but Maurice's seemed unfazed.

"What? Jerk deserves it. Its not like they don't have prosthetic eyes anyway, be good for him to see what its like to suffer for a change instead of inflicting it on others."

"I don't want to hurt anyone," Orous mumbled staring down miserable at his ink-spattered feet, "not even James."

"Or get suspended or expelled," Scorpius added and the others except Maurice nodded in agreement.

"You've been spending too much time with Michael, pacifism is tiresome. Do you want to be weak?"

"Michael isn't weak," Scorpius growled defensively and guiltily, "it had to take a lot of courage to do what he did."

"I didn't mean Michael! Just pacifism in general, my father says to never start a fight but always finish one. Not wanting to go around picking fights is different to defending yourself or at least trying to defend yourself, if we all lived with that in mind then the Specters- Shadows rather, would have won already."

"Still struggling with the Patronus?" Orous asked quietly, whether he just wanted to change the subject or figured it was on his mind

"No," Maurice answered severely and upset flickered in the oceans in his eyes.

"How is that going?" Scorpius questioned curiously, recalling for the first time that he'd been meaning to try it again now he was back in Hogwarts with Varanian's advice about the emotions being what was important not the memory itself.

"Everyone except Maurice and Orous have made some speck silver at least once in our year."

"I haven't either. Its a difficult spell and its understandable that none of us have got it yet."

"Its just unfortunate because its the probably the most useful spell we'll learn with the Specters."

"Some people are untouchable to them," Orous said quietly.

"Its usefulness doesn't matter," Maurice said in a grim tone, "Father says if I haven't made anything silver at least once by Christmas then I'm in big trouble."

"Your father would punish you for not being able to cast a spell that's way beyond your skill level?" Scorpius wondered in surprise when Maurice looked at him again.

"Of course," Maurice informed him as he averted his eyes which was unusual for him, he always had to keep his eyes on them or he wouldn't be able to read their words

"Some parents aren't as nice and fair as others," Corin pointed out morosely, "you know, Maurice, you could always-"

"You promised, Corin, don't you dare say a word," Maurice interrupted darkly and Corin shifted guiltily before peering down at Scorpius curiously.

It was lost on Scorpius what they were talking about and from the befuddled glance he exchanged with Orous' crimson eyes, he didn't think Orous knew either. It made him feel slightly guilty though, whatever it was Corin seemed to be keeping his promise whereas he'd broken his to Michael and it had cost his friend his eye. His insides twisted up painfully as he wondered if that was why Michael had risked jumping in front of the Acutus Curse, had he thought Scorpius would remember and keep his promise and not be casting such a dangerous spell at James again? If Michael did forgive him then he didn't deserve it.

"Don't take this the wrong way, but your parents must be really nice for former Death Eaters."

"Err... thanks," Scorpius muttered.

"Well what do we have here?" James' mocking tone interrupted their conversation, they glanced up and saw him at the top of the stairs, he'd changed out of his Quidditch clothes and found his gang, he pocketed a wad of parchment when he saw them, "you're one dumb Dursley short of a freakshow gathering."

"You're supposed to stay away from me," Scorpius told him threateningly and James met his eyes coldly.

"Your freaky firsty friends are fair game though, this is aimed at them so either run along or get in the way and get expelled for not staying away from me."

Scorpius pondered his options. He thought James was probably right, if he only was picking on the others then he was technically staying away from Scorpius so Scorpius would be the one to initiate a fight if he tried to defend them. His training with Varanian was fresh in his mind and screaming to be used but he knew he couldn't do that, he also couldn't just knowingly leave them. He wondered if James had planned it purposely to try get him expelled or just realized the situation as it happened.

"Vern isn't dumb," Orous pointed out defensively, albeit quietly but still louder than usual which was normal volume for everyone else, there was something about his voice when he spoke normally that reminded Scorpius of something.

"He's too far away the pendant isn't translating it, what is he saying?" Maurice wondered and Corin made movements with his hands again.

"Shut up freak, no one was talking to you," one of James' friends snapped and Orous flinched fearfully fiddling with his map.

"Hey! No one calls me a freak and gets away with it!" Maurice yelled so loudly that Scorpius actually cringed, "was that shouting?! I was trying to shout!"

"Yes!" Corin hissed as the rest of them nodded while James' friends chuckled, James went to take a step forwards as he spoke.

"I can call you whatever I want, you deaf freak son of a child-kidnapping psycho-"

The rest of James' sentence was cut off as Maurice's spell struck his ankles, he'd moved so fast that Scorpius had barely registered the wand being drawn let alone the bullies. Despite everything, Scorpius admired Maurice's aim as James' ankles snapped together violently causing the older boy to completely lose his balance and tumble down the stairs. James' friends moved hastily to help and draw their own wands but Maurice had moved onto them while James was still falling, muttering the curses under his breath so quietly it was barely audible but Scorpius was proud to recognize it as the Full Body-Bind Curse movement from his sessions with Varanian. They started falling before James was at the bottom of the stairs, their limbs snapping together causing them to topple down like dominoes and join their leader.

It happened so quickly and efficiently that no one had enough to react, a few of James' friends had managed to get their wands out but none got so far as even firing a counter spell, Scorpius and Corin had done nothing to stop it - why would they? - and Orous was knocked over by one of James' friends on his way down giving him no chance to react even if he wanted to. He started scrambling to his feet quickly and flinched when Corin went to help him, Corin looked slightly confused and backed off as Orous snatched up his wad of map from the ground.

James' gang may have been completely immobilized but James wasn't, his hand went for his wand the second his body stopped moving and Maurice wordlessly slammed his foot down on James' hand to pin it while keeping his wand very steadily aimed at James. James tried and failed not to wince as Maurice's foot collided with his hand, trying uselessly to get up off his stomach before turning his brown eyes to gaze at the younger boy with a look of loathing that Scorpius hadn't seen directed at anyone else but him before, Maurice's expression on the other hand remained as neutral as ever, he hadn't even broken a sweat. Scorpius had expected to see anger from James' comments - although it dawned on him that the deaf boy had been unable to catch James' last sentence - or possibly delight at getting one up on James and his gang but Maurice's expression betrayed no hint of what he was feeling or thinking but he met the older boy's eyes unblinkingly before they darted to Corin.

"What was the thing he was saying at the top of the stairs?" Maurice questioned of his friend, Corin made movements with his hand as the necklace seemed forgotten. Maurice's eyes darkened as they went back to James, "don't say a word against my father."

"I can say what I want," James spat furiously despite the futility of his situation, again Maurice's eyes flicked to Corin to wordlessly translate, "let me go now and maybe I'll go easy on you, Rivers."

"Apologize."

"Apologize?!"

"Did I stutter? I wasn't trying to. Apologize for the things you've said to my friends, the things you've done to them and for insulting me, then I'll let you go."

"Drop dead."

The second Corin's hands stopped moving, Maurice launched his free foot at James' face, specifically his mouth. There was a sickening crack that time as his boot hit, Orous jumped at the sound and Scorpius had a feeling that he would have reacted worse if it had been more than one kick. Scorpius had a feeling he would objected himself if it was more than one kick, he braced himself ready to argue against the logic of beating James up. As it was, the one had done enough damage, from little Scorpius could see through the blood, some of James' teeth were smashed. Maurice muttered the curse one last time and James' limbs sprang together like those of his gang, the gang that Scorpius noticed still had eyes darting frantically around.

"Should have apologized," Maurice shrugged, turning on his heel to walk away. Scorpius, Corin and Orous hastily jogged after him, he stopped when they were out of earshot of the bullies and smirked his cold smile as his hand went to his translator necklace, "and that, Orous, is how you deal with bullies and as you saw, I didn't even blind them."

"You smashed his teeth in!" Orous protested looking upset, "are you really just going to leave them there frozen?"

"Yes. They'd leave us, someone will find them and revive them sooner or later."

"You shouldn't sink to their level."

"I didn't sink to their level, I acted in defense of myself and the group. Very calmly and effectively I dealt with the threat, what is so wrong with that?"

"Nothing," Corin affirmed, "I wouldn't have added the kick myself but otherwise, tres bien. They poured ink in your hair earlier and have tormented you all year, how can you possibly feel sorry for them?"

"I don't feel sorry for them, I feel sorry for you," Orous said quietly, "there's a fine line between some things, when punishment becomes abuse, when justice becomes revenge, when fighting back becomes just fighting, one becomes the other when you go too far and attacking subdued people is going too far."

"If I revived them then they wouldn't be subdued anymore," Maurice pointed out and Orous sighed, the boy looked so tired and sad.

"Kindness does a lot than cruelty. The Shadows are going to destroy the world we know, there'll be enough cruelty then, we may as well use kindness while we have it."

"The Shadows are going to be stopped and the Shadow Master is going to die," Scorpius heard himself say before he realized his lips were moving but Orous just shook his head sadly.

"People will try to stop them, try to fight back but they won't succeed. The Shadows are too strong, there's no hope."

"How can you even think like that?!"

"Because its the truth."

"So what, you think everyone should just give up and give them whatever it is they want?!" Maurice demanded seeming to share in Scorpius' belief about the limited days of the Shadows and Orous shook his head again.

"No, sometimes its worth fighting a losing battle just so that you can say that at least you fought and tried with all the strength you had. My dad always says that it doesn't matter if you win or lose if you just try, you should always try your hardest even if you're pretty much dead already. We've still lost though, you can't beat the Shadows or their Master," Orous told them solemnly, "please can you revive them, James should get his teeth seem to in case he chokes on his blood or something."

"He's on his stomach, he'll be fine. You revive him if you want."

"I don't know the spell."

"Oh well then, dilemma solved, let's go to dinner."

"You go, I'm going to find Michael. He'll know the spell."


	36. II: Routine

_**Thanks to:** Aya Diefair, Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Sorry this is a weird chapter, the more exciting stuff is in the second part but it was too long so I had to split it and not just split it but I had to split the flashback too_

* * *

The following day Scorpius got his answer from Dom, Aurelius was willing to let him use the vultures but they weren't owls and he had to turn into his animagus form to tell them where to go. Meaning they would have to fly back to Aurelius first so he could tell them the address on the letter so they'd know where to do, unless he had another way of communicating with birds. Scorpius thought it could work, they could use another address just for mail like the Embry's perhaps but wasn't sure Varanian would go for it so he decided to wait until Varanian contacted him again or until he had desperate need of a letter before he worried it. He told Dom to thank Aurelius regardless and he'd ask again if he needed it.

The next week flew by, it reminded him of his first year when he'd had chunks of his free time taken by his detentions and Quidditch practices only this time it was catch-up sessions and Quidditch practices. It wasn't actually bad, Scorpius preferred being busy to distract from his gloomy thoughts over the Shadows and Michael's eye. Scorpius wondered if it made him a bad person for almost preferring one-on-one sessions with his teachers as opposed to in classes, they got through it at his own pace which was faster than they would otherwise of done.

History of Magic and Charms were the only subjects he didn't have extra sessions for, Binns just told him to read certain bits of a text book which actually was the best thing he'd ever heard from the ghost. It was almost interesting when reading about it from a text book, it made Scorpius realize how Michael could possibly enjoy the subject. Grant expected him to catch up in his own time and test him on it later, Scorpius got the impression he just didn't want to spend time helping him and the feeling was mutual. It wasn't safe to be around someone working for the Shadows if he could help it, Grant might try something especially now he was healed. Also Astronomy was caught up in one night of arriving hours before class, only having one lesson a week meant there was less that he'd missed.

The downside was not being able to spend time with his friends which was unusually difficult, Michael was still being distant and Rose seemed determined to spend a lot of time with her boyfriend and his Ravenclaw friends. Abby and Albus didn't seem to mind hanging out with the Ravenclaws or Scorpius and Michael, however usually by the time Scorpius' session were finished they were already with the Ravenclaws and it would be rude to get them away when the Ravenclaws welcomed Scorpius to join them. Michael wasn't. As Scorpius learned on Thursday when he slipped into the library and saw the others sitting with the Ravenclaws, immediately going to leave having no desire to be around them only to run into Rose's boyfriend, Devin Copper.

"What's the rush, friend?" Copper asked with a flash of white teeth.

"Friend?" Scorpius repeated finding it odd to be called that by someone he barely knew.

"Any friend of my girlfriend is a friend of mine."

"Well I have to go find my friend."

"Your friends are already there," Copper offered gesturing to the table as he tossed his head slightly to get his curly brown hair out of his eyes, hazel eyes like Michael's use to be only a duller different shade, "Rose, Al Potter and the professor's daughter."

"I was looking for Michael," Scorpius informed him, disliking the way Copper referred to Abby as the 'professor's daughter.'

"Michael Sanford?" Copper repeated looking surprised and for just a second Scorpius thought it was understandable he'd be confused after the Acutus incident before Copper continued, "why would you want to be friends with someone like him?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean you're obviously smart and talented like we are and he's not, guy's a loser, he's useless, he can't do magic well and he's practically illiterate," Copper explained with a confident smirk and Scorpius felt his wrist burning, "he's clearly just trying to befriend people to advance himself because he's never going to get anywhere himself especially not with that grotesque eye that makes you want to throw up just from looking at it and hideous scar, the professor's daughter not to mention her sister, Harry Potter's son, Harry Potter's closest friends daughter and the boy who banished the shadows. He's just holding you back."

"Holding me back?" Scorpius managed to get out through gritted teeth as his fist clenched while Copper nodded, "wait you didn't say this to him, did you?"

"Of course not," Copper said with exaggeration without losing his smile or blinking.

Scorpius hadn't trusted himself to speak, thankfully he hadn't had to as suddenly their were shouts as Copper's essay had abruptly caught fire. The Ravenclaw rushed off to deal with and Scorpius slipped away without a shred of guilt, _serves him right_. He wasn't going near the Ravenclaws after that. But he was afraid to tell the others about what Copper had said, what if they didn't believe him? Or worse, Copper had said the same thing to them and they actually believed him. He was afraid to ask Michael about it too, he was afraid of saying anything to upset his friend in case Michael took back his forgiveness.

Scorpius never thought he would have been able to honestly say he preferred Varanian's company but he did, it was better than having your friends frustratingly scattered. On the other hand, Corin and Maurice still wanted to hang out with him as did Orous and by extension Vern, he found himself spending time with the first years more often when Michael was vanished and the others were with Copper. Scorpius had tried to find the mystery room, just in case but once more he was met with an empty corridor and no door. He tried tapping on bricks, guessing passwords at random but no door nor room appeared so he gave up and returned to his dormitory.

James had been leaving him alone just like he'd promised though, although Scorpius was still greeted with looks of loathing that James also extended to Maurice as did James' friends. The day after though, James did storm over to them at breakfast and demand to know who had stolen his map much to everyone's confusion, James had angrily stalked away when they started asking what he was talking about. It was the last time Scorpius had actually spoken to them, they went through practices without speaking a word to each other and instead James focused his insults on Latimer. Maurice was never in trouble, Scorpius supposed the older boys were too humiliated about being incapacitated by a first year to speak up and one of them must have healed James' teeth. Scorpius never did ask if Orous had gotten Michael to revive them or if someone else had, he was afraid of speaking about James in front of Michael in case it reminded him of what happened the last time James and Scorpius had dueled and he hadn't wanted to risk upsetting Orous either, he seemed more on edge than usual.

Quidditch practices even seemed different to before, like Professor Longbottom the team - minus Molly and Latimer - seemed colder to him but started to be themselves more as time progressed. Except James who still avoided him and cast him looks that Scorpius was sure James wished would kill. Some practices Nick would come meet Molly afterwards, his wrist burned every time and one time they actually kissed in front of him, the stand closest to Nick caught fire and the Aurors rushed over from their watches to put it out, ushering them inside for their safety. Scorpius found it hard to feel sympathy, he was doing his best but every time he saw them he couldn't help but feel a gnawing hurt on his heart that she wasn't with him and a burning jealous rage towards Nick for taking him from her. He knew it was irrational, he only had himself to blame but logic wasn't good at making his emotions see reason. He was sure Latimer realized because the older boy would always touch his arm to snap him from his thoughts and offer to walk him inside, Scorpius hoped it wasn't that obvious and that Latimer was just observant but he was grateful all the same, Latimer was alright.

Scorpius still wasn't particularly enjoying being back, he felt constantly on edge especially with the Aurors and Grant lurking around and perpetually irritated by the things bothering him. He thought maybe the lack of sleep was getting to him, he was still waking up drenched in sweat and shaking most nights with his wrist searing in pain. It didn't help he struggled to get to sleep in the first place, he could hear Michael tossing, turning, sighing, quietly playing word games that seemed some attempt to sleep for hours.

Friday was the Patronus lesson that Scorpius had been looking forward to, he hadn't really had time to practice since his return but he was determined that he would succeed, it was essential if he wanted to help Varanian with the Shadows. He was slightly off-put when the lesson began though, people seemed to be having success more often than before and he even noticed Nott get a silver sliver once. Michael still had nothing though, he hadn't produced anything silvery for weeks before Scorpius' expulsion.

Scorpius focused on what Varanian had said about it being how the memory made you feel not the memory itself, he thought about when Molly had held his hand and had to repeatedly force his thoughts away from Nick to think only on the memory. He closed his eyes and imagined her hand around his, her beautiful smile lighting up her sky blue eyes.

"_Expecto Patronum!_"

At first Scorpius thought it was working, he felt a slight surge of power flooding into his wand but instead of bursting out as anything it shot right back, speeding back up Scorpius' arm and into the other, leaving his left feeling tingly as if he'd hit his elbow. He gasped at the pain in his wrist, he was used to the burning but this felt like his wrist was being devoured while the skin around it throbbed. His wand dropped from his fingers as he instead clutched as his wrist and did his best to breathe through it.

"Are you alright?" Michael asked concerned, looking at him with his mismatched eyes through the jagged scar, Scorpius wondered how much it had hurt.

"Fine," Scorpius lied, not wanting to tell anyone about his wrist but realized immediately that he couldn't insist nothing was wrong if he was going to hold his wrist for a while, "just a twinge in my wrist from twisting it weirdly, not a good idea to do spells with your eyes closed."

"Well don't hold in a death grip, that won't help, just massage it gently until the feeling passes."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded and he rubbed his wrist, after a few minutes the pain did recede but his worry about it kept him distracted and unfocused when he went back to trying to conjure a Patronus.

He was in a gloomy mood on Saturday, made more noticeable by the cheerful atmosphere for the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff Quidditch match. Scorpius actually wasn't sure who to cheer for for a change, Ravenclaw was Professor Ashain's house but Hufflepuff was Orous' and he felt obligations to wish well for both sides. Rose was cheering for Ravenclaw because of her boyfriend and Albus was too while Abby was cheering for Hufflepuff as it was her elder sister's house, even if her elder sister was in Beauxbatons for the Triwizard Tournament rather than at Hogwarts and so was Corin, except because it was Vern and Orous' house not because of Abby's sister. Maurice had no intention of attending the match and Michael was gone before any of them were up so Scorpius had no idea who he was cheering for, he didn't even feel like going really. All thoughts of that went out of his head when he left the Great Hall and noticed someone walking by with his dog chasing orbs of light by his side.

"Calderon!" Scorpius called out happily.

"Whatever it is, its on my list and I'll get to it!" Calderon protested a he spun on his heel before noticing Scorpius, his body relaxed immediately as he grinned insanely, "hey Scor."

"Busy day?" Scorpius wondered coming over to him and waving the others to carry on without him as he'd catch up with them after speaking to Calderon.

"Busy job, isn't half as easy without some mad assistant running around doing most of it for you."

"Need an assistant again?"

"Be careful what you volunteer for," Calderon pointed out as two Aurors walked by on their patrols, Scorpius felt immediately on edge while Calderon also lost his smile.

"Something wrong with the Aurors?" Scorpius questioned immediately as he started walking casually further away from the crowd hurrying outside and Calderon instinctively walked with him with the dog in tow, Scorpius wasn't sure what breed it was but it was getting big.

"Not exactly wrong, dealing with them is just extra work. And I don't mind work-work but paperwork makes me want to run around pulling my hair out while the papers go up in flames, poof," Calderon answered and waved his hand as he did so to cause a flame to appear and vanish in a puff of smoke.

"Is it really that bad?"

"I suppose not if you don't mind sitting still for long periods of time."

"Why don't you just... send the Aurors away?" Scorpius asked hopefully but Calderon shook his head sadly.

"Can't do that I'm afraid."

"Why not? It'd be easier for you and the school would be better off, you can keep Hogwarts safer than they ever could, you vaporized those last guys who attacked."

"Scor!" Calderon hissed looking shocked while orange lights flared around him, he glanced around the now empty side corridor before pulling him into an empty classroom, "firstly, I'm not that great at keeping the school safe look at what happened last year and at the start of this year and secondly I didn't vaporize anyone and that's exactly why the Aurors should be here."

"I don't understand," Scorpius stated in confusion, Calderon hesitated as if unsure whether to tell him.

"Harry and I have talked a lot about what happened to the Shadows who attacked us, he thinks what you think is a possibility but I _know_ I didn't kill them. Except that one guy who didn't vanish. That leaves two options, they managed to escape out of the school somehow or they simply managed to get out of the Great Hall and are still in the school."

"You don't think they're still in the school?"

"Its a possibility, I mean Salazar Slytherin built a secret chamber that no one discovered for a thousand years or so, its not like Hogwarts doesn't hold secrets if you know where to look," Calderon said carefully, "and if it is the right possibility then sending the Aurors away would be asking for trouble, there's a lot more students than their are staff and they can't be everywhere at once, I can't be everywhere at once, the Aurors can cover more ground. I can't send the Aurors away without knowing the attackers truly are gone, they may be a hindrance in a way but the good outweighs the bad right now."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded in understanding although he didn't feel particularly at ease and still thought it was better with the Aurors gone, what if they and Grant were helping the attackers left behind? Or were trying to get as many Shadow Aurors in Hogwarts before attacking? Scorpius didn't say that though, Varanian had told him not to because if Calderon didn't have the power to send the Aurors away then it was pointless to bother him when he had enough on his mind, "are you going to the Quidditch match?"

"What?" Calderon blinked in surprise for a moment, Scorpius didn't blame him, he'd blurted out the change of conversation so fast he'd surprised himself but he was afraid he would confide in Calderon about Varanian regardless if the conversation continued on Aurors, "no."

"Even though you're Headmaster?"

"_Acting_ Headmaster and yes, I don't have to go so I'm not."

"What about my game in two weeks?"

"No," Calderon told him and Scorpius wished he'd picked a different change of subject, feeling his heart drop like a brick for allowing himself a sliver of hope that Calderon might see him play, he still found the former assistant's support childishly mattered to him, "what's wrong? You know I can't watch Quidditch."

"But you could, just once to try it because I bet you could control it," Scorpius shrugged uselessly, "why don't you like Quidditch anyway?"

"I don't not like it, its just... Its a dangerous game, people can get hurt and I can't just sit around and watch people get hurt or when those Bludgers fly near people's heads and they nearly get hit, the urge to do something to protect them is overwhelming. I'm sorry, Scor."

"Its okay," Scorpius lied, "I'll see you around."

Later Scorpius would regret feeling stupidly upset and leaving when he had the chance to truly talk to Calderon for the first time all year, he regretted it almost as soon as he stepped outside into the drizzling rain and he almost went back but he knew Calderon would have gone by then. Instead he trudged onto the game, Rose, Albus and Abby were sitting with the Ravenclaws to watch the match - even though Abby was wearing a hat with a stuffed badged on top and had her cheeks painted with Hufflepuff colors - and Scorpius couldn't see Michael amongst the crowd, he did see Corin with Vern and Orous though so instead went to sit with them. Orous was explaining the rules to them - or trying to, speaking quietly wasn't the best way to speak at a Qudditch game - as while both boys were aware of the game, they weren't aware of the rules or at least not in depth. Scorpius joined in the explanation to hurry it along as the match started, feeling sadly reminded of telling Michael about the game. It made Scorpius feel worse, it should of been Slytherin and Gryffindor playing and it should have been Scorpius and Michael in their air. But it wasn't. Because of him.

Scorpius noticed he wasn't the only one seeming glum, Vern and Corin watched the game with intrigue while Orous hung back and stared at the ground with his arms hugged around himself. He looked almost ready to cry and Scorpius moved back to talk to him.

"Are you okay?" Scorpius asked to which Orous nodded silently.

"My mum used to take me to Quidditch games sometimes is all. Before she stopped loving me and left," Orous told him sadly.

"I'm sorry," Scorpius offered gently, not sure what he should really say to that, he could never think of comforting things to say but decided to keep close in case Orous needed support while his mind drifted to his conversation with Calderon, he'd have to be more alert.

"Thank you."

They might not have enjoyed the game but Vern and Corin did, they seemed to become more immersed and more vocal as it went on and where cheering their heads off with the rest by the time the game ended. Scorpius thought it was only unfortunate their first team match was a loss for Hufflepuff, Hufflepuff had been winning until the Ravenclaw Seeker caught the Snitch, Hufflepuff's lack of a good Seeker was a rather big disadvantage. He had a feeling Ravenclaw knew that though, they kept Hufflepuff's attention focused on their Chaser's victories rather than on the eagle-eyed boy they should have been making more an attempt to stop. It put his other friends - except Michael and Maurice who were indifferent - in a good mood though and despite the loss, Vern and Corin were still excited about the next match which they thought was more interesting because someone they knew would be playing. Scorpius wished he could share their excitement rather than Orous' depression about it.

The next week went just as - if not more - quicker than the first week, the work continued piling on although Michael finally seemed to be making more of an effort to spend time with him and at times he, Scorpius, Vern, Orous, Corin and Maurice would wind up studying together in the library - if the Ravenclaws weren't there. It was a different dynamic than with Abby, Albus and Rose, having different things to work on in different years meant there was less discussion on their work unless it was Vern - or sometimes Corin - asking for advice about things or frequently reading their answers back and asking their opinion since they'd done it already. Orous seemed indifferent to his work, he would do it but didn't seem bothered whether he did well or not, his work was average while Corin - and surprisingly Vern - received generally good marks. Maurice neither needed nor wanted help and was the best in his class for all but Flying, his deafness made it awkward. Orous and Vern were quite good though and Corin was getting the hang of it. Orous and Maurice still hadn't done any silver yet in their Patronus lessons while the other two had, like Scorpius they excelled at spellwork otherwise but fell short on that.

Scorpius was nervous about the Patronus lesson but was determined to get through it and not worry about the strange wrist pain from last time, he couldn't let that stop him. That time he focused on last Christmas, having to forcefully shove aside the intruding thoughts about his grandfather no longer being alive and think only of the thoughts. How good it felt to just relax with his family again, like he'd never been hurt and Lyra hadn't died, like everything was okay and just for a short time everything had been okay. He focused on that and cast the spell, he felt the surge of magic and the pain in his wrist but he forced it through, he _was_ going to do it, for his grandfather's justice, for his family's protection, for himself to prove he wasn't weak and pathetic.

He forced the magic though and silver sparks burst from the end, Scorpius had to suppress the urge to scream 'yes!' at the top of his lungs and punch the sky while Michael congratulated him as did Professor Ashain when he came over. He thought he would have if he had breathe left but he felt so drained and his wrist was agony, not just the scar but around it felt like the skin had been ripped off leaving it feeling raw. He was glad his face seemed stuck on smile because he wasn't sure he could've kept his wrist from them otherwise, but he was smiling because he knew then that he could cast a Patronus, with time and practice. He wasn't evil, he was good and so were the Malfoys and he was strong not weak and powerful not pathetic, in that moment he actually felt so good that the pain barely touched him.

His good mood carried him through the pain even though he had to go to bed after lessons were over, he knew it was possibly a waste of time but he felt so tired. He looked at his wrist after the drapes were closed, the bruising-that-wasn't-bruising seemed a lot lighter and the scar itself didn't seem as bulging. He wasn't sure what caused the pain or the not-bruising or if he was simply imaging the changes and he didn't wand to know, it was caused by _muggles_ and he didn't want to know. Whatever it was, he wasn't letting it beat him and that was definitely the best and most important thing.

* * *

_Brutus found his routine was changed by Achan's decision to join the Death Eater's, he was very determined that they should be on assignments together if possible and as Achan proved his abilities they started giving him what he wanted. Brutus wondered if he was a bad friend for being bothered at first, Achan bragged about torturing and killing his targets in excruciating detail, it made his eyes light up while Brutus felt his go dark. If it wasn't mudbloods, blood-traitors, half-bloods and muggles being the ones suffering then Brutus would have been horrified. But as it was they deserved it, they did and he had to remind himself about it a lot at first._

_Then Brutus started going with him, the first one was when they were supposed to kill a blood-traitor. Achan thought it was necessary to torture him first, Brutus just had to keep the muggle wife out of the way after they subdued the blood-traitor. He took her into another room so she wouldn't have to watch her husband suffer - he wasn't being sympathetic to muggle garbage, he just thought it would maker her more compliant, he wasn't sympathetic, he had to tell himself that a lot too - but his screams still upset her. Brutus was glad they weren't high-pitched screams like Tommy or Sal's or he thought he would have been upset too, the woman just sobbed and begged him to help. After an hour, the man was still screaming and Brutus couldn't stand it anymore._

_Brutus marched into the other room, he'd been going to tell Achan to hurry up but seeing the man stopped him. Achan hadn't just been using the Cruciatus Curse, the man looked mangled, bloody and had one hand less than he'd had at the start while Achan simply grinned with sadistic delight and raised his wand on the man again. Brutus was faster, the killing curse passed his lips before he realized what he was doing and the man was dead. The man's pain was over. The mission was complete. The world was a better place without a blood-traitor. They could go home. Death Eaters wouldn't kill his family for failing. He'd done the right thing, they hadn't been told to torture, it was an unnecessary cruelty. Even if he was a blood-traitor. At the very least, Brutus didn't like listening to it._

_"Now to get rid of the witness," Achan announced cheerfully._

_Without missing a step or losing his smile, Achan skipped into the other room and the second round of screaming began. Brutus stood still for a while, listening and staring at the mangled body of the man he'd killed. He walked back in and raised his wand again, ending the woman's life before she could reach the same stage as her husband. Achan did scowl at him then, grumbling about missing out on the fun but at least they left then._

_Brutus went straight to bed even though it was only mid-afternoon, he couldn't sleep though, he couldn't even close his eyes, they remained as frozen and open as the couple he'd killed. He couldn't stop seeing the man's mangled body anymore than he could stop hearing the woman crying as she begged for his help. He didn't feel sympathy, he didn't feel bad. He didn't. But he still needed a drink, he went to fetch some of their finest bottles of Firewhiskey and drank until their voices stopped and he couldn't see them anymore, by that point he couldn't see anything anymore and he was eternally grateful._

_Things didn't improve, he had to go on killing missions with Achan who was far more interested in inflicting pain than murder. More and more, Brutus found himself taking their lives because he hated the extended torture. Maybe they deserved to suffer a bit but after a certain point they were completely incapable of fighting back and it was just... pointlessly cruel. He considered himself to have a choice of killing them before they suffered too much or not killing them but having to wait until they were satisfactory destroyed before Achan did it, he wondered if his choice to kill them made him an evil bastard or a really evil bastard._

* * *

Scorpius overslept by a lot the next morning but he woke feeling very refreshed, pain-free and not shaking or soaked in sweat much to his delight. Michael was long gone though as were Rose, Corin and Maurice at breakfast, in fact the Great Hall was looking rather empty. Albus was still there - on the weekends he liked to dawdle as long as Vipera was still there - with Abby who seemed to have barely touched her food. She was nibbling and looking nervous, he noticed her casting glances to her father who looked equally nervous.

"What's up?" Scorpius asked of her as he sat down.

"Was about to ask you the same question, sleepy head," Albus retorted.

"Before Vipera, you used to be the sleepy head. Its one time and I was tired."

"Fair point, long as you're not coming down with something."

"I'm not," Scorpius said firmly and turned back to Abby who didn't seem to be paying much attention to them, "are you okay?"

"Just nervous," Abby shrugged and swallowed deeply.

"About what?"

"You know, my sister."

"What about her?" Scorpius wondered and both of his friends look at him with surprised eyes.

"You know because of today being the first task of the Triwizard Tournament."

"I don't understand," Scorpius pointed out feeling confused, he didn't think the people watching the tasks would be in much danger.

"You don't know?" Albus said with a raised eyebrow, "thought everyone did?"

"Know what?!"

"That my sister was chosen as the Hogwarts Triwizard Champion," Abby told him.


	37. II: Not Right

_**Author's Note:** Thanks so much to Winged-panther1 for reviewing! Glad someone is still reading_

* * *

"Your sister was chosen as the Hogwarts Triwizard champion?!" Scorpius burst out in shock to which Abby nodded quietly, "which didn't you tell me?!"

"I thought you knew, I thought everyone knew," Abby pointed out, "I know you were suspended when Calderon announced the names of the three champions but it was in the papers and everything."

"I didn't know," Scorpius admitted, his aunt didn't buy the paper and he'd been getting his information from Varanian, the Triwizard Tournament being held in France probably had little to no impact on Varanian's life so either didn't know or didn't think it was worth mentioning.

"Well now you do. I'm worried about her, when Uncle Harry was in the tournament the first task was having to steal a golden egg from Dragons, _Dragons_. I'd be lying if I said I didn't wish Heater is facing something less life threatening but I'd also be stupid if I thought it was going to be easy, even with new safety precautions."

"I'm sure she'll be fine, she wouldn't have been chosen if she wasn't capable after all."

"Yeah, she'll do great," Albus added brightly grinning although Abby didn't exactly look convinced.

"I hope so," Abby muttered.

Albus continued offering assurances that Abby's sister would be fine and it wouldn't be that bad while they ate, Scorpius opted to just shut up about it and try change the subject to get her mind off it. He still wasn't good at thinking of things to say though, eventually they headed off together to get cracking on their homework and Scorpius was glad that for once they weren't spending time with the Ravenclaws. He'd missed them more than he realized, he just needed Michael and Rose and their group would be complete. He wouldn't mind Molly being their either, he saw her most days - Molly had them on a rigorous training schedule to make up for Scorpius and James' missing weeks of practices for the match the following week - but he missed spending time with her outside of that, he missed talking to her at meals and over homework as she spend a lot of her free time with Nick.

It was actually a hectic Saturday work wise, Scorpius was behind a whole day's worth of homework from going to bed so early before. He had a Quidditch practice later on too which would cut even more into his time, he headed off early to hand in one of the assignments - one of his extra catch up ones - he'd finished for Professor Ashain. He was slightly surprised when he found the door closed, he was in a hurry though so he simply knocked and went in without waiting for a reply.

He'd completely forgotten about Professor Ashain's children visiting over the weekend. They were there, the little girl - Cassia - was sitting at her father's desk, kneeling up and seemed to be drawing or coloring something when he came in, she stopped to look over at him though with the same eyes as her father at the same time he did, the professor seemed to have pulled up a chair beside her but rose when Scorpius entered. The boy - Antonius - didn't seem remotely interested though or maybe just didn't notice, he was sitting beside the desk with his nose buried in a book, his extremely dark auburn hair was combed as neatly back as the professor's, in stark contrast to Cassia's tangled mess of straw-colored hair.

"I'm sorry," Scorpius apologized awkwardly, "I just wanted to drop this off, I didn't know you were busy. I'll come back."

"No its okay if you're just dropping something off," Professor Ashain offered before quickly saying something to the kids that Scorpius didn't catch but he had a feeling it was along the lines of stay for a minute before coming over to him, "what do you have?"

"Just the last extra catch up assignment you gave me, thought I'd give it quick before Quidditch practice now its done," Scorpius explained as he handed his work over.

"You have Quidditch practice!?" Cassia burst out from the desk, excitement almost seemed to be bubbling out of her, "that is so cool, Quidditch is awesomed and we saw the game last weeks and we gotted to sit in the staff box even though we're not staff and we sawed it and it was awesome acause they fly in the air and it was so cool and I want to do that acause it is so cool acause you're flying. _Flying! _Like in the sky cept not with a plane or a... a helcuptur, more like a bird and the birds I talk to like flying and it looked so cool and Daddy said he would teach us at some points and have you ever tried to taste a cloud? I always wanted to know if it was like vanella candy floss acause thats what I think but my brother thinks they would just tasted like rain acause they rain and Daddy never tried to eat a cloud and the birds didn't either so I don't know."

"Cassia, shush for a moment, Daddy's talking," Professor Ashain told her putting a finger to his lips and the little girl pouted but mimed zipping her lips and throwing away the key, it was slightly illogical but Scorpius stopped caring about that as something about her slapped him across the face. She could talk to birds, she could tell the vulture where to go without Aurelius having to know and direct them himself. Varanian couldn't argue with that, little kids didn't have good memories and she'd probably forget address after directing the vulture, it was perfect.

"Its okay," Scorpius pointed out with a smile, being nice to the girl was probably a good start if he wanted her help in the future, even if she didn't know it yet, "and no, I'm sorry but I haven't tried tasting the clouds before."

"Well be sure to give it a go. Thank you for the assignment, you'll be caught up in no time."

Scorpius nodded and said goodbye, Cassia waved from the desk with a grin while her brother still hadn't looked up from his book. Scorpius was still feeling better as he headed off to Quidditch practice, he'd finally reached the first step to casting a Patronus and had a way to be able to write to Varanian, not to mention no strange dreams. He thought things might finally be looking up slightly, he'd take any win he could get.

* * *

_Brutus soon found he was developing a reputation amongst the other Death Eaters for being such a brutal, cold murderer due to the high body count from killing those Achan tortured. Some even seemed afraid of him, not the Lestrange brothers though. He supposed it was fair, he was good at killing and he hated himself for it. Even though the victims deserved it, they were going to die anyway so it wasn't like Brutus was doing any favors by prolonging their agony. He still did it though. He knew his soul was probably in shreds and if he held a Blood Rune Orb then it would probably turn as pitch black as the night sky when the moon and stars were away, he knew there was no hope for him, really he'd known it the moment he'd volunteered to join to spare his father's life. And that was exactly the reason he hardened his heart and forced himself on, for his family._

_He found himself relishing the time he spent guarding the twins, he much preferred that despite the Dementors and their Shadows. Tommy was getting worse, the more they pushed him the more magic he did. Just not with a wand. Even walking him upstairs to the 'training room' proved hazardous, Brutus would frequently hear explosions and crashing and people cursing, they needed Dementors on him most of the time to suppress his magic. Brutus felt bad for the boy, he didn't deserve that. In fact, Brutus thought their methods were the reason for Tommy's overwhelming amount of accidental magic. Sal had an unusual amount of accidental magic too but hers wasn't as frequent or drastic - yet - as her twin's, the outbursts were more like how Tommy's had been before it got bad which made sense to him as she wasn't trained as much as he was._

_He'd actually been having luck teaching her magic, whenever they were Dementor free they practiced on base level spells for first years, or rather beginners. She did struggle and shot him an almost fearful look every time she failed, expecting torture but he never did, he'd always found encouragement rather than criticism had helped him learn so he attempted to do the same with her. The more they practiced the more relaxed she seemed, then she finally started succeeding and when she succeeded, she succeeded. First time she used Lumos successfully the light almost seemed to explode out of the wand tip, it engulfed the whole room and was so blinding that Brutus had to squint and try shade his eyes just to look back at her. The entire wand blazed with bright light and he had to take his wand back to put it out, it was still imprinted in his mind for ages after he still saw a wand shape wherever he looked. She had done it though._

_It was only when he got home that he noticed the cracks in his wand, tiny little things that covered the entire surface from its tip to its handle. They hadn't been there before he'd given Sal his wand to practice with, he'd used it to heal Tommy as he was taken away just before and he definitely hadn't had cracks in his wand. It worried him, his wand felt like an extra limb and he didn't want to be without it, he went to Ollivander's to ask the old man about it as soon as the dingy little shop opened._

_"Ah, Mr Ashain!" Mr Ollivander greeted him immediately, "twelve inches, ash with phoenix feather core if I remember correctly?"_

_"You know you do," Brutus pointed out tiredly as he approached the counter._

_"Your father's was another ash wand, only a half inch longer than yours and instead with a dragon heartstring core. Every Ashain I've sold a wand to has had an ash wand, interesting no? Your mother's on the hand was maple, ten inches but with a phoenix feather core like yours."_

_"I don't have a mother," Brutus growled frustratedly, she didn't deserve to be called that after she left him, it seemed to halt the old man's rant on wands, his silvery eyes looked at him sympathetically which annoyed him even more, he was better off for not knowing his mudblood mother as she was the kind of person who abandons newborns so he didn't want sympathy. Instead he simply laid his wand out on the table, "something happened to my wand, I want to know if you know what and if you can fix it. I have enough money for it."_

_"What were you doing with it?" Mr Ollivander wondered, his eyes bulging in shock as he picked up the wand and studied it carefully._

_"I was trying to teach this kid I babysit how to do magic and after she cast a spell I realized that had happened," Brutus told him, trying to stick as close to the truth as possible so the old man could help, "she's homeschooled so she doesn't go to Hogwarts and her parents don't trust wandmakers so she doesn't really have one."_

_"Well you shouldn't really be doing that, for starters ash wands bond strongly to their owners and generally dislike being passed around."_

_"Is that what caused the cracks?"_

_"No, no, no, no, the damage to your wand was caused by something different," Mr Ollivander informed him as he shook his head, "its something I've heard of but never seen. Wands are designed to channel the innate magical ability we possess, they make it much easier to tap into that power and also make sure we use it safely. There's only so much power surging through us that our bodies can physically cope with at a time, wands make sure we only use a safe amount at a time. Now, what your girl did was inadvertently channel too much power into your wand, wands can't cope with more magic than they can safely channel and if you force them to try then they break. If it was too much by a lot then the wand is simply obliterated by power but if its too much but not completely overwhelming then the wand may splinter or crack before exploding if the excess power is not removed before then. Its exceedingly rare and with good reason."_

_"Can you fix it?" Brutus asked worriedly._

_"Of course, of course. But I recommend you tell this to the girl's parents, considering this incident any accidental outbursts will be dangerous for her if she can regularly use too much power. I don't know a lot about it as it veers away from my are of expertise here and with wands making magic safer and easier to use these kinds of problems become even more uncommon but its dangerous, painful, physically and mentally damaging... its easily fatal."_

* * *

Abby needn't have worried about her sister, she not only was unhurt - or at least nothing noteworthy for them to pass along - but completed the task, coming second to Beauxbatons. Abby couldn't stop smiling and was practically bouncing off the walls, Scorpius found it hard to feel school pride but he was fully behind Abby's sister. Hogwarts was too although he thought the competition would carry more weight if it wasn't being held in a different country but still Hogwarts was glad to be in second place and in with a chance for a Hogwarts champion. The good mood carried throughout the school for the following week, the memories of Shadow attacks receding from the forefront of most people's minds.

Scorpius was too busy with practices and work to feel the spirit though, the week flew by and he arranged it with Dom to get Aurelius to let him use a vulture for Saturday when Cassia Ashain would be there again, with any luck he would be able to get her to direct the vulture and deliver the letter. He asked Varanian to reply with anything he'd found out that was too long to be told him via the rings, there wasn't too much to say otherwise but he wrote about Calderon's suspicions and about casting his first piece of silver Patronus. He succeeded again in making a dash of silver but again it agonized his wrist and left him feeling utterly drained, in hindsight it probably wasn't the best thing to try when he had a Quidditch match the following day and a practice later that day. He was exhausted through Transfiguration and the after session, normally he enjoyed it as it was one of his favorite subjects and he rather liked Florian but he was _so_ tired.

"Why don't we finish early today?" Florian announced brightly after about half an hour, clapping his still bandaged hands together cheerfully as his ever-present grin widened, "you should rest up for your Quidditch match tomorrow, you're looking a little sleepy."

"Thank you," Scorpius said gratefully even though he still had a practice to go first.

"No problem, good luck by the way. I'll be rooting for you, go Gryffindor!"

"Thanks," Scorpius told him with a weak smile that the teachers were excited for Quidditch too, everyone but Calderon.

Scorpius packed up his stuff and headed back to his dormitory, intending to get some sleep in the now extra time before his practice. He expected it to be empty but was surprised to see Michael sitting in his bed reading, not that it was a bad thing. Scorpius smiled and waved a hand in greeting.

"Not in the Room That Doesn't Exist?"

"Its not working right now, sometimes it doesn't," Michael answered with a shrug, "not in a Transfiguration catch up?"

"Florian let me go early to get some rest before the match tomorrow."

"Right," Michael nodded losing the hint of a smile from his scarred face as he put down the book and Scorpius felt his heart sink a little bit more.

"Are you coming to the match tomorrow?" Scorpius asked quietly and noticed Michael avert his mismatched eyes.

"I'm not really feeling that well."

"Suppose you weren't feeling well for the Ravenclaw versus Hufflepuff match either?"

"No, I just didn't want to go," Michael told him firmly and Scorpius must have scowled because Michael reacted like he did, "what do you want me to say? Watching Quidditch just doesn't seem as fun anymore and I'm not lying about not feeling well, I've been getting headaches since... you know and I have one now, being around a load of cheering people is torture."

"You never mentioned headaches before," Scorpius pointed out dubiously and Michael looked taken aback, he fiddled with his fingers for a moment before answering in a tone quiet enough to rival Orous.

"I didn't want anyone to know, in case the school tells my mum and stepdad, I'll be in so much trouble with Bob."

"Oh," Scorpius muttered feeling bad, "I'm sorry."

"I'll go if it really means that much to you but they usually last a few days and I'd rather not."

"No its fine," Scorpius told him before having to suppress a yawn as he was reminded of his reason for being there, "I have practice in just over an hour, I was going to get some sleep. If you could wake me then I'd be eternally grateful."

"Sure," Michael agreed immediately looking relieved at the change of subject, "knock yourself out."

Scorpius just kicked off his shoes and climbed under the covers, the clothes would be going to be washed anyway as it was Friday and changing would just cut into his sleep time. It felt like no time passed at all, he lay his head down on the pillow and then Michael was shaking him gently awake, he almost thought Michael had just woke him the second his eyes were closed but he couldn't have moved the distance so fast unless he could suddenly apparate and inside Hogwarts no less. He rubbed his eyes, not feeling like he'd slept at all as he thanked Michael and pulled shut the drapes to change sleepily.

He trudged along, dragging his leaden feet down so many flights of cruel stairs, he almost hoped the exertion would make him collapse with exhaustion so he could sleep. It was only as he neared the bottom that he realized he'd forgotten his gloves, he groaned at the thought of going all the way back and decided to just go without, the faster the practice was over the faster he could sleep.

"Watch where you're going, fossil!" James' voice taunted and Scorpius forced his head up in time to see James violently shove Orous down the last flight of the stairs that the first year had been going up, knocking all the books and papers from Orous' hands and scattering them about the floor.

Scorpius almost wanted to call out for James to back off but he was actually too tired to feel bothered, he'd yell at him next time. James - oddly - stopped briefly to root through Orous' fallen things, he grunted in anger and kicked Orous as he tried to get back up before stalking away, Scorpius would kick him next time. Orous rubbed his side where James' kick had landed as he started to pick up his things, Scorpius reached him halfway through and went to kneel down to help him. Either because he was tired and unfocused or just the awkwardness of starting to crouch on steps but Scorpius slipped.

Orous' hand snaked out to stop him and caught his scarred wrist at the same time that Scorpius grabbed Orous' left for support, his fall was halted but he noticed something. Beneath his fingertips he felt a raised segment of skin and saw the bruises, Scorpius shakily drew his hand away to shove back Orous' sleeve further, so focused he didn't notice doing the same to him. Orous had the same scar, the three lines wrapped around his left wrist with the center one solid and the other two broken up, surrounded by bruising that probably wasn't bruising. Scorpius' eyes flicked to the horrified crimson ones as the realization hit him so hard that his heart almost felt like it stopped beating.

"You're the voice," Scorpius and Orous said in perfect unison, it only confirmed what he knew deep down.

"I always thought you sounded familiar," Orous said at a regular volume as tears pricked at his eyes.

"So did I," Scorpius whispered, "I..."

"What?!" Orous demanded sounding angry despite the way his voice was breaking, "going to tell me that I'm not real again?! Going to tell me to shut up again?! Going to tell me to go away again?! Tell me, Scorpius, tell me that I don't exist one more time!""

"I'm sorry, Orous."

"You're sorry?! All I ever did was try to help you and all those times I begged you for help, you just ignored me and yelled at me that I didn't exist. You could have helped me, even if you just told someone then I could have had a chance, I could have been saved. You knew what it was like and you just let me rot."

Scorpius became aware that the bannister was on fire but it didn't seem important, he felt too devastated to reply, he felt like his world was imploding in on itself. The voice had been real, it had all been real and the fact it had been his friend was like a knife twisting in his heart as one final screw you. He'd just let an innocent child suffer because he couldn't handle that it hadn't been just muggles who'd taken him, magical people had been involved. Magical people were just as bad as muggles, muggles were just as bad as magical people, everyone could take him, everyone could hurt him, there was no safety for him. Tears welled in his eyes and he just looked hopelessly at Orous, the boy looked as upset as he felt.

"I really did think you weren't real," Scorpius managed to choke out through the lump in his throat, "and then you went away."

"Do you know why?!" Orous yelled tearfully but angrily, "because they had a Specter tear the magic out my soul just to break the connection to you, do you have any idea what it feels like to have a part of your soul ripped out?"

"But... you can do magic."

"They put it back, you die with a chunk of your soul missing and weren't kind enough to let me die because they still have plans," Orous explained stopping shouting as he fought the tears from coming, "its not like screwing a light-bulb back in, they don't just put it back and everything is right. Its like ripping out your heart, just because you drop it back into place doesn't repair all the connections, not the way it was before and there's still unmovable scars where you forced it back together. My soul is ruined now. Everything feels different and nothing feels right, I'm pretty much dead already. And... And if you had just listened to me, just helped me then I could have been spared half a year of agony, I could have been saved."

"I really am sorry," Scorpius offered timidly "I don't know what else to say, there's nothing I can say."

"No there isn't," Orous agreed, a moment of calm from the torrent of emotions crossing his face, "to hell with you."

Orous turned and ran and Scorpius didn't try to stop him, there was no point. Instead he ran back up those steps as the tears spilled from his eyes, the railings all were burning but he didn't notice starting it. He didn't care, it was just stone and someone would get to it. He could barely see through his tears as he got back to Gryffindor Tower, screaming the password and wondering why the hat had put him in the house when he was a coward. He just kept on running back to his dormitory and threw himself onto the bed crying.

He was a monster. For once he didn't even try to stop the memories of his ordeal by muggle hands flooding his mind, the worst things he'd ever been through and he'd just let Orous suffer that and possibly worse. It wasn't muggle hands either, it was magical too, magical people were just as bad. Everyone was bad and no one was good, they could all be out to get him.

"Scorpius, what's wrong?" a voice asked gently and Scorpius sat up seeing Michael looking at him with concern.

Looking at him with his mismatched eyes, the one grotesque with the jagged scar running from his cheek to his forehead through the eye. Scorpius had done that to him. After everything Michael had done for him he couldn't keep one stupid promise and not destroy his closest friend's eye. He was a monster. He just hurt the people he cared about, his baby sister died, his grandfather lost his soul, he'd been willing to sacrifice his friends, Professor Ashain was nearly been torn in half saving his life, Orous was the boy he left to rot in his worst nightmare and he scarred Michael for trying to help someone. _You are a Monster. _

Scorpius couldn't speak, from crying, from being out of breath from running, from not knowing what to say. He couldn't stop, sobs wracked his body and Michael seemed to realize it was pointless as he sat down behind him, patting his shoulder.

"It'll be okay," Michael offered with a small comforting smile.

Clearly Michael had no idea what was wrong, he couldn't possibly know. He couldn't possibly know that nothing could ever be okay again, not when he was a monster, not when nothing was safe because even magical people were bad. Scorpius' head fell onto Michael's shoulder and just cried, Michael hugged him awkwardly and continued saying general kind things while Scorpius cried, his eyes were sore from tears that didn't run out but he still couldn't stop. He only stopped when he cried himself into sleep.


	38. II: Lightning, Water, Ice and Air

_**Thanks to:** SDF, Aya Diefair and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Was Orous always albino or is it a side effect from having your magic ripped out and put back?_**  
_He was always an albino, he was just born like that_

* * *

"Come on wake up, you've got a game to play!"

Albus' voice snapped Scorpius back from sleep as he was shaken awake, Scorpius rubbed his eyes in surprise as the last thing he remembered was crying on Michael's shoulder. Miserably his head fell back onto the pillow as it all came back to him, the voice being real and being Orous, that it hadn't been just muggles... at least he felt all cried out. He supposed he should be grateful to not wake up in a sweat again but he couldn't muster the emotion, how could he when the world seemed turned inside out?

"Come on, Quidditch," Albus moaned shaking his shoulder again, "not sleep, get up!"

"Fine," Scorpius grumbled but Albus beamed and skipped away to give him some space.

He sat up and saw he was still wearing his Quidditch robes, except for the thick cloak and boots, Michael must have took them up and got him into bed after he fell asleep, he'd even closed the drapes just like Scorpius liked. Making a mental note to thank him, Scorpius just pulled on the cloak, Thestral gloves and boots before braving behind the drapes. He really didn't feel like Quidditch but he couldn't not play, Molly was counting on him. He was doing it for her.

"Are you okay?" Michael asked and Scorpius jolted in shock as he pulled back the drapes to see his friend sitting on his own bed watching him, he'd gotten use to Michael being gone by the time he woke up unless he woke particularly early. 'Fine' was on Scorpius' lips but it didn't leave them, it would be pointless to lie, Michael had seen him break down completely and you didn't do that for no reason.

"Not really but I can't think about it now, I have Quidditch," Scorpius told him and Michael nodded, seemingly satisifed with the answer and Scorpius decided he would leave worrying about what to tell Michael later as well, "coming to breakfast?"

"Already had it, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

"See you later then," Scorpius offered turning to leave but hesitated to look back, "and thanks."

"No problem," Michael shrugged it off.

As Scorpius walked the route he took every day to the Great Hall he couldn't help but feel on edge, it didn't help that he felt naked without his wand but you obviously couldn't use it during Quidditch - although by law you could keep it with you - and with all the Bludgers flying around, Scorpius was afraid it would get damaged so he never bothered bringing it to games. He would glad when the match was over and he could carry it again. His eyes shot to every Auror he passed, for once not wondering whether they were working for the Shadows but whether they wanted to hurt him sin, he searched their eyes for the way Linden had looked at him and wished for his wand even more. He got to the crowded Great Hall and scanned through the crowd suspiciously, if magical people were just as bad as muggles then logically any of them could be out to get him.

He sat down with his friends but didn't find himself relaxing, he looked to the Hufflepuff table but Orous wasn't there, then again Scorpius shouldn't expect him to be as he too got an early breakfast. He noticed Vern though, the first year looked somewhere between confused and upset. Scorpius picked as his food despite his friends nagging him to eat, he wasn't hungry and he couldn't stop looking around. He saw Professor Ashain's kids sitting with him at the staff table, Cassia was showing Professor Hagrid a drawing she must have done with 'go gRiffindooR' - the fs were backwards - and a childish looking picture of a lion on a broomstick, the picture was moving. Her brother didn't look half as excited as Cassia did, it reminded Scorpius that he had to get her to direct the vulture to deliver Varanian's letter later on. He'd worry about that later too.

"Come on, eat up!" Molly told him as she appeared at his shoulder, "and don't look so glum, you're gonna fly the pants off Kyle Nott. Even though you missed a practice yesterday."

"Sorry," Scorpius apologized half-heartedly, "wasn't feeling well."

"How you doing now?" Molly asked sounding so concerned that Scorpius wished he'd just left it at 'sorry'.

"Better. Better enough for the match, not hungry though."

"Are you sure because we could always..." Molly began but trailed off and sighed, "let James be Seeker and Roxy take his place for this game... we'd lose of course, James is mediocre at best and useless compared to Nott but we might be able to survive one loss if it isn't too crushing, we'd just have to score a lot of goals against Hufflepuff and Ravenclaw to make up for it, if Michael's back for them we could possibly have a chance."

"No its okay, I can play, it'll be fine," Scorpius told her with a forced smile, she returned it and he felt his palms sweating again.

"Okay, eat as much as you can then come on."

"Done then."

Scorpius waved goodbye to his friends who wished him luck and headed off with Molly as she gathered up the rest of the team to head off to get ready, he felt nervousness creeping in on him, he had to do this for Molly, he wanted to do something good for someone he cared about for once. It meant a lot to her to win and Scorpius didn't want to let her down. He sat down waiting when he was ready, holding his broom tightly. Lost in his miserable thoughts while the crowd started filling up the stands outside. From what he gathered, the Shadows had been the one responsible for what happened to Orous which meant they'd been responsible for him too. The scar probably was something to worry about, it could've been caused by dark magic, it would explain why it had reacted to the detection spell last year in the hospital. And Orous had it too, the not-bruising as well. What had the Shadows done to them?

Worry questions bounced inside Scorpius' mind. What did the scars do? What did the not-bruising do? What did the Shadows want them? Why them? What was the point in giving them up to muggles? Had the muggles been in on it or had they been controlled magically? Had he killed an innocent man when he killed Marvin? Why had his parents lied to him about the muggles? Or did they really think the muggles weren't still out there? Had his grandfather known the Shadows were responsible for his abduction? Had he really willingly worked with people who'd kidnapped his only grandson? Had it been his idea? And what about the missing twins? Were the Shadows responsible for them too? Did that mean Roman Rivers was working with the Shadows too?

Scorpius didn't want to have questions, he didn't want to think about it, he wanted it to just go away. Which was exactly his problem, he realized, he hadn't let himself consider the boy might be real because he didn't want to revisit what had happened to him. Because he was a coward. It didn't stop him wishing it would go away, living through it once was enough without having to remember or think about it ever again.

"Okay so here we are, our first match of the year," Molly began nervously and Scorpius was drawn back to reality, "some of you have been here before, some of you haven't, some of you are just used to playing reserve but here we are. I know people haven't been saying particularly confident things about us and that has some of you concerned but it shouldn't. Those people haven't seen you fly, those people haven't seen you play, those people haven't seen you train, those people haven't seen you improving like I have. Today we are going to out there and we're going to go out there and try our best, and all those people who doubted you will see you play and after today they won't say things like 'no chance with inexperienced Chasers' or 'doomed with young players'. Today we go out there and show them what we're made of and the only thing those people will be saying is 'damn, that Gryffindor team is good!'"

"Yeah!" Freddie called out from behind her and there was a cheer from the team that Scorpius weakly joined in with, he just wished Michael could be there.

"Happy now?" Molly asked of her older cousin who grinned.

"It'll do."

* * *

Michael lay on his bed, keeping his eyes wide open but moving his hand over his good eye, seeing the world go black even though he knew the other eye was open. He could feel it being open, blinking occasionally, he looked left and right and up and down and diagonally but the world remained black. He used his other hand to move his wand - lit by _Lumos_ - right up in front of his non-covered eye, everything went a blinding white and his aching head screamed in protest. Miserably he noxed the light and moved his hand away to see again, he didn't know why he bothered, possibly to keep reminding himself that his eye couldn't see even though it killed him every time to remember it was as good as gone. Rationally he knew it would never see again, irrationally he wanted a miracle. No one understood that, his friends just thought he should get a prosthetic eye, hack out his own one and put in a new crazy magic one that could see through objects just because his one looked gross and creepy. He didn't _want_ a magic eye, he just wanted his normal eye that looked like his normal eye and acted like his normal eye. He didn't want to lose it and if he really had to then he didn't want the 'Mad-Eye's' eye that Albus talked about.

He sighed and sat up, he had plenty of other things to worry about, like why Scorpius had been so upset and why Orous had blown him off earlier, citing friends were just traitors and to stay away from him or schoolwork or getting kicked out of his home. He headed down into the common room, trying to ignore the pounding in his head so he could think. He saw Maurice was there, sitting in one of the comfy chairs by the fire and opening a book. He noticed Michael though and waved him over, Michael obliged as the deaf boy put a hand to his translator necklace to speak. Michael noticed Maurice's hands weren't covered by his gloves for once, the scores of scars of overlapping words clearly visible.

"Sometimes its nice to let my hands breathe," Maurice answered as if he'd noticed him looking, "might as well while no one is around."

"You should tell someone about that then you could let your hands breathe all the time, and your wrists and arms if its warm weather," Michael pointed out.

"I'd still keep them covered just to avoid the questions and staring. You don't walk around shirtless even though staff are aware of your scar from Varanian."

"I don't wear gloves to hide the scar on my palm that I got from James and Scorpius though."

"Its not as obvious."

"You should still tell someone, its not right for your father to give you those scars."

"Technically I give myself those scars," Maurice told him stiffly, "and it wasn't Father's idea originally anyway, the first magic school I went to were the ones who started it. You had to write down everything what you were learning with the Blood Quill to make sure it got ingrained into your memory, then you were quizzed about it and if you didn't remember then you had to write it again, and again, and again until you remembered. Eventually you get really good at remembering so you only have to be in pain once. Father only uses it for punishment, if I don't get this Patronus by Christmas then I have to home and I'll have to copy chapters from a textbook with it."

"That's just cruel," Michael scowled feeling guilty again.

"Its an effective method of learning, learning isn't supposed to be fun. It doesn't matter how you learn as long as it gets done, there's a war coming and we need to know as much as we can to defend ourselves."

"That doesn't make it right."

"Its not what I wanted to talk about," Maurice stated bluntly changing the subject, "I just wanted to know if you were staying here for Christmas or not."

"Yeah I am."

"Okay thanks."

"Okay," Michael said slowly which Maurice simply nodded and let go of his necklace, turning back to his book. Michael just left him to it and headed off to his secret room.

* * *

They lined up and filed out onto the pitch, Scorpius couldn't help but notice that the cheer for Slytherin was a lot greater than the one for Gryffindor, he also noticed a lot of Aurors dotted around the edges of the pitch. They'd been there for the other match but they were more obvious and worrying when you were standing on the pitch with them, it was just another reason to catch the Snitch and end the game as fast as he could. He watched impatiently as Molly shook hands with the Slythern Captain, ironically it was the Beater who'd injured her in their game last year but there didn't seem to be any ill will between them, at least he didn't give her a look of loathing like the one Kyle Nott gave Scorpius. Scorpius noticed that Nick Longbottom didn't look as confident as he did last year, he didn't take his eyes off his girlfriend.

Scorpius wished time would move faster but finally they were up in the air, he tuned the commentary out of his mind because it really didn't matter, all that mattered was finding the Snitch and ending the game and he wasn't going to get sucked into paying attention to what else was happening. It was a muggy day with thick still air, no wind or rain or slow, sleet, sun, fog or hail, the sky was just empty. Hopefully it would make it easy to see and catch the Snitch, he scanned desperately for a flicker of gold and tried not to be distracted by the Aurors.

He wasn't having much luck, the first time he saw it someone swiped a Bludger at him that he had to dodge and when he had done that it was out of sight, Kyle must not have seen it because he was still searching. The second time he didn't see it but saw Kyle dive, he desperately dived too and hurtled for the ground, only for Kyle to laugh and veer up. It had just been a trick. Scorpius yanked his broom handle up to stop him colliding with the crash and impressively managed to force it turn in time so he was horizontal again, he glided over the grass so close his legs touched it. Oddly he noticed the grass was wet despite the lack of rain but it lacked importance so he climbed back up and went back to searching. The third time he and Kyle saw it together, Kyle was closer but Scorpius still thought he had a shot until a Bludger from one of the Gryffindors slammed into Kyle's outstretched hand. Kyle yelped in pain and was thrown completely off course form the force of it, it would have been good for Scorpius if he hadn't had to avoid Kyle as he momentarily spun out of control, when he righted himself the Snitch was gone again.

Scorpius tried not to feel frustrated, it would only make him lose focus and he needed to be focused. He wasn't going to let the Snitch get away from him again. The next time he saw it, it was hovering near the Slytherin rings and he shot towards it. A few moments later, Kyle caught on but mustn't have noticed it because he moved to block Scorpius instead. Tried. He paused mid-move and his jaw dropped, gazing at the ground, Scorpius simply went around him until he noticed Nick was also gaping at the ground. Confused, Scorpius spare it a glance and found himself coming to a stunned halt as well.

The pitch was water. The entire pitch inside the stands was water, from left to right and top to bottom, the rings rose out of dull murky blue water. The Aurors and referee were actually swimming to get to the nearest entrance to the stands, the players all were frozen in the air watching and the stands had gone silent, the girl commentating was ranting hysterical about the flooded pitch. Scorpius wasn't sure whether they'd be finishing the game or not but after the people were safely out of the water, he saw Kyle going for the Snitch.

Scorpius didn't hesitate to speed into the race, circling the Slytherin rings as the Snitch moved and started to go downwards towards the water. Scorpius was ahead of Kyle and had come off at a better angle to dive, Kyle also had his injured hand/arm/wrist - Scorpius didn't know the particulars of the injury or how bad it was but he'd been one armed since being hit with the Bludger - so Scorpius thought he could get it. He reached out his hand and snatched at the golden ball, at the same time his broom jerked suddenly and violently and he was thrown clean off of it.

He was falling. He was falling and he couldn't reach his treacherous broom that had also falling, only slower and higher and too far away to reach. He plunged into the water, the splash resonated around him as the cold water claimed him completely. He was all turned around but managed to right himself, the water stung his eyes but he had to keep them open to look for the light of the surface. He kicked his legs, clawing for the light with the Snitch still gripped in one hand but when he went to stick his head out, it was slammed into something hard.

Confused he tried again but still hard, he reached up with his hand and was also met with solidness, he went to run his hand along it to see what was blocking but from the slippery freezing feeling he got, he knew it was ice. He looked up and saw everything was tinted and frosted, it was hard to see but he make out what looked like people. He made out Molly's face, she looked like she was kneeling and looked terrified.

They were trying to break the ice and get him he realized. Jets of light from spells shot towards him - or rather towards the ice above him - but didn't get through, Scorpius felt his heart start to beat rapidly, either they weren't having any effect or not enough effect to break the ice yet. His lungs took that moment to start aching, reminding him he needed air, he needed to breathe.

He banged his fist on the ice desperately, maybe if he tried to break it too then they could meet in the middle and he'd get out. It didn't even dent it, he hammered his fist and the hand with the Snitch against the ice, harder and harder but it didn't make a difference, it was like pounding stone and all it did was hurt his hands. Molly's lips moved like she was trying to say something but Scorpius couldn't even hear muffled sounds, he could only hear silence, was that it was like for Maurice? He saw flames but didn't feel the heat or notice the nice melting, he wished things would randomly catch fire like had happened in the past.

But it didn't. His wrist ached but magic didn't come to save him, he tried to focus his magic but his lungs were burning for air so much it hurt. He didn't think it would help anyway, he knew how to move things with his mind, not melt ice or break through it. He couldn't do anything, his arms felt too heavy to keep up their useless pounding on the ice, it was hard enough continuing to tread water to keep up to the ice. He was tired. So tired. It dawned on him that he was going to die, they couldn't get him out, they couldn't get past it. He didn't want to die, not really, not there, not then, not like that.

Molly looked on the verge of tears, her lips were still moving but no sound was reaching him. Even through frosty ice she was beautiful, he reached up the weighted lump of rock that felt like it had replaced his arm to press his palm against the ice and she put her hand over it. He imagined that there wasn't a sheet of ice between them, that their hands were touching and they intertwined their fingers with each other, she would smile, her smile lit up the darkness. That was a much better place to die.

Scorpius' strength failed him, his arm fell down and his legs stopped kicking, letting him sink into the water's embrace, he didn't feel cold anymore, his body was too numb to feel the cold. His lungs caved, not believing his brain telling them there was no air and started to gulp water down the wrong way, he was choking on the water as it forced its way in to flood his lungs, it hurt. Dying did hurt. His eyes closed. He just clung to Molly's imaginary hand and slipped away in his mind to where nothing hurt him anymore.

* * *

Michael's head was still aching as he reached the corridor with the Room That Doesn't Exist, although he was sure that it did exist, it became whatever he wanted it to be like, he just had to think about it. He wondered again if he should show it to Scorpius, that would probably cheer him up from whatever thing he would never talk about that was upsetting him as he was a private person and a private space would probably appeal to him.

"Why the hell did you go ahead with the plan, you moron?!" someone was yelling when Michael went to round the bend leading to the corridor with his room, he froze on the spot, "we have orders to wait! They can't make their mind up whether it matters if he's alive or dead!"

"Well I'm in the 'it doesn't matter camp'! Its been nearly six months, we need Scorpius now! Dead the Specters can take control of his body so does it really matter if he's alive or dead? Controlled by a Specter should work well enough, what else does it matter? He doesn't even know what he did so his memories, thoughts and personality isn't important."

"Its not your call! We don't know as much as they do."

"Way I see it, if I'm right then we're back on track and if I'm wrong then the Master won't be able to kill me anyway. Too late now, kid's probably dead by now."

Michael backed away slowly and started to leave as quietly as possible, really he wanted to hear more but it wouldn't matter if he couldn't get to Scorpius. He was running as soon as he thought he was out of earshot, his heart was pounding as he ran faster and faster, hurtling down the staircase - not for the first time - as fast as he could force his legs to go. His first instinct was to get to the pitch but then he thought of Calderon, if anyone could save Scorpius from whatever those two men were planning then Calderon was the best bet. He bolted in the direction of the headmaster's office, forgetting that he didn't know the password but he saw Calderon walking towards the gargoyle with his dog and his thundering heart skipped a beat with relief.

"Calderon!" Michael burst out breathlessly and Calderon paused to look at him curiously, "I think Scorpius' life is in danger and we need to hurry."

"How do you-"

"I heard these guys talking, they said he should be dead already come on!"

Michael didn't wait for a reply and just started running again, either Calderon would follow or he'd have to warn the other staff at the match. Calderon did follow though, Calderon actually took over his lead and the dog raced ahead of both of them, its tongue lolling out with delight at the unexpected exercise. They pelted outside and didn't stop until they were at the pitch.

It took moment for it to register that it was the Quidditch pitch, inside the stands was a sheet of ice where the pitch would normally be, like someone had suddenly put a giant ice rink with gaps for the ring poles. Most were still in the stands but there was a crowd gathered on the icy pitch, the dog whined as it slid along and ran back to off it, Calderon patted its head before they went onto the ice towards the people while the dog waiting barking or yelping. Michael was glad for the grip on his sneakers as they made it across the slippery surface, the assembled crowd was mostly staff, Aurors who looked soaked and Quidditch players with a handful of students, Ashain's two small children were both standing by their father.

The teachers, Aurors and some of the students were desperately shooting spells at an oddly colored section of the ice, fire seemed popular but it didn't last very long or melt the ice. Michael noticed Albus, Abby, Corin, Vern and even Rose were all there looking fearfully at the ice. It felt like forever since he'd seen Rose without Copper by her side, he pushed it out of his mind, it wasn't important right then.

"What happened?" Calderon called to the others, sounding impressively not out of breath like Michael was.

"Pitch turned to water then Scorpius was thrown in then it froze over and won't budge," Ashain answered without pausing in his rigorous shooting of non-verbal spells at the ice, "Scorpius is trapped beneath the ice."

"Stand back!" Calderon yelled firmly and held out an arm to stop Michael from going further forwards, the crowd shuffled back and stopped firing, "further!"

They shot Calderon a mixture of expressions from doubt to awe to confusion to fear as they moved even further back, Michael hoped it was far enough as the former assistant raised his hand into the air. Immediately a swirl of light appeared high up in the sky, pulsing and bulging before Calderon violently swung his arm down. A blazing bolt of lightning shot down from the swirl in the sky and slammed into the ice, the explosion was earsplitting as chunks of ice were thrown back, some the size of Michael's head and people held out their arms to protect themselves from the ice debris although no one got hurt.

Calderon didn't seem to have broken a sweat and marched towards the hole he'd created, Michael followed after him fearfully but didn't see Scorpius climbing out of the jagged star shaped gap. Calderon tossed off his cloak, still wearing a muggle sweater, jeans and sneakers beneath before jumping into the hole. The others seemed to be shaken from their shock and headed over to look into the hole, the Aurors were telling students to go back into the stadium but no one moved or looked away although some had to have gone back already because there were only ten players, Ashain was grumbling that he'd told his children to stay put but no one else said a word. Just watching with baited breaths before finally Calderon emerged with Scorpius. Koray, Freddie and a Slytherin player - those three happened to be closest - immediately began pulling Scorpius out, laying him down on the ice. He didn't look like he was breathing.

Someone yelled to get a healer but no one else moved, frustratedly Michael stormed over and fell to his knees by Scorpius' side, reaching for his friend's cold damp wrist to check for a pulse. There was none. His heart was thundering so loudly that Michael was surprised no one could hear it, he looked at Scorpius' still face with his wet white-blonde plastered to his skull, so completely different to his great-grandmother but still he thought of her oddly.

Shoving that aside and without waiting for a healer, he started doing chest compressions. He could practically hear the unanswered questions wondering what he was doing, Michael felt oddly and determinedly calm as he pushed down on his friends chest. He would be damned if he was just going to give up on his friend. One, two, three. One, two, three. One two-

Scorpius spluttered up water, he sat up coughing it out violently and gasping down much needed lungfuls of air. He couldn't stop shaking, either from cold or shock Michael wasn't sure and he noticed a small golden ball rolling away from Scorpius. The gathered people - Michael included - breathed a collective sigh of relief and Ashain took off his thick cloak and knelt to put around Scorpius' shivering shoulders, Scorpius collapsed against his favorite professor weakly, still breathing deeply and unsteadily. But he was breathing. That was good. Calderon was still in the water but he held out a palm, gently pulling it back and all the droplets of water seemed to peel off Scorpius and back into a ball in front of Calderon's hand, leaving the twelve year old dry.


	39. II: Dawn

_Brutus was falling asleep on the basement steps, he'd been on guard duty since the early afternoon and had done an all-nighter, the dawn light was streaming through the miniscule basement window. He hadn't seen Tommy since he'd arrived, Rodolphus had been bringing Sal back and taking Tommy up instead although he had heard the boy screaming when he'd gotten his and Sal's dinner, he wondered if it hurt Tommy's throat to scream so high pitched as much as it hurt his ears to listen. While initially gloomy about having had a torture/training session with Rodolphus, Sal had cheered up and decided to be energetic. All night. She was practically bouncing off the walls. He supposed he should be grateful she hadn't complained about not learning magic. Brutus couldn't wait to crawl into his bed and sleep, which he couldn't actually do until Rodolphus gave him permission to leave._

_"Tired, Brutus?" Sal asked him suddenly and drew him back from the edge of sleep._

_"What gave you that idea?" Brutus grunted in reply and she only smiled._

_"Its daytime."_

_"I've been up all night. Can't you just sleep?"_

_"Its Christmas, Brutus! Rabastan said when it Christmas you're supposed to be too excited to sleep, we don't get presents so I thought I'd just be excited. I don't know why you're supposed to be excited but I think I nailed it."_

_"You're supposed to be excited for gifts, not getting any means there's no reason to be excited and you could've just slept," Brutus complained and let his head fall into his hands, had he really not been paying that much attention to the days? "is it really Christmas?"_

_"Yep, yesterday was Christmas Eve and today's Christmas according to Rabastan. Don't you get presents?"_

_"Yeah but it loses its excitement as you grow up, especially when Christmas at seventeen you get an owl first thing saying your brother tried to kill himself."_

_"Well cheer up, here I got you a present, hold out your palm," Sal told him cheerfully and skipped over to drop a ripped piece of fabric into his palm when he outstretched it, he noticed an identical rip at the end of sleeve, "I ripped it off for you... I'm not sure where you're supposed to get presents from and Rabastan had only started talking about it when Rodolphus came for me."_

_"Thank you for that, Sal," Brutus offered kindly before pocketing the piece of fabric, it was completely useless of course but he supposed it really was the thought that counted considering the situation. He didn't have anything to offer in return but he doubted she'd be allowed to keep anything anyway, he didn't feel bad when he remembered he'd forgotten to get any other gifts anyway, "Merry Christmas."_

_Sal opened her mouth to reply but was cut off by the door swinging open, she jumped back and a crack cut across the wall closest to her, Brutus felt a pang of sadness, wondering how long before she got to Tommy's level of non-control. Brutus got up quickly and stepped up rather than down, predictably it was Rodolphus and he lazily hurled Tommy down, Brutus grabbed the boy's arm before he could fall down the stairs which earned him an angry glare from Rodolphus. Tommy's face was all bruised again, one of his eyes was swollen shut, he had a split lip and blood was oozing from both his nose and mouth, on top of that he was cradling one of his arms and one of his feet was at the wrong direction and angle then it would normally go. He leaned heavily against Brutus, trembling shakily._

_"I have errands to run," Rodolphus announced coldly, "you can stay on guard until I get back or when Tyler arrives to replace you at midday."_

_"Fine," Brutus growled in agreement as the Dementors breezed past, he suppressed a shiver while Tommy whimpered and flinched when Rodolphus slammed the door shut. Brutus wasted no time in getting out his wand to heal Tommy's injuries as best he could, he wasn't the best at healing spells although he had improved since he'd become one of their guards._

_"You know if you just killed me than you wouldn't have to waste your time healing me," Tommy whispered in a quiet hoarse voice as he looked pleading into Brutus' eyes, "I don't know how to make it up to you anyway."_

_"I'm not killing you and I don't mind healing you."  
_

_"He's worse than Uncle Lucius and he hates me more than ever now."_

_"Things will get better."_

_"When?" Tommy wondered tearfully and Brutus didn't have an answer so he remained silent. _

_It was the silence that made the commotion upstairs more noticeable, Brutus made sure the worst of Tommy's injures were healed enough to no longer be the worst before heading upstairs to check it out. He opened the door and peered out, seeing Narcissa Malfoy looking outraged and screaming at one of the other Death Eaters._

_"Rodolphus just came and gave my son a message from the Dark Lord! Rodolphus Lestrange! I demand to know why he was broken out of Azkaban but my Lucius wasn't!" Narcissa yelled furiously and Brutus was reminded that she was in fact Bellatrix's sister._

_"To train the twins. Now go back! The Aurors are surveying your use of the Floo Network and they'll know you're here and know where we are!" the Death Eater protested.  
_

_Almost on cue there was an explosion from somewhere that sounded like it was the front door, the color drained out of Narcissa's face with the anger and the Death Eater looked panicked. Brutus felt his heartbeat quicken, trying to remember where he was supposed to get the twins too if they were breached before a painfully familiar voice drew an even bigger problem to his attention.  
_

_"Its not protocol to-" _

_"Shut up, Ashain," a louder voice snapped._

_"Not my brother, anyone but my brother," Brutus begged hopelessly of no one under his breath while the Death Eaters went to launch an attack, "want to make it up to me, keep my brother alive."  
_

_Brutus' position was both an advantage and disadvantage, the door opened in the direction the Aurors were coming from which meant he was covered and Atticus wouldn't be able to see him but it also meant he couldn't see the attackers. He would have swore if he wasn't too afraid that Atticus would hear him._

* * *

_"Not fun not being able to wake up is it?"_

Scorpius shot up, coughing up water so forcefully it hurt, his lungs ached and his throat felt raw as if he'd been spluttering out gravel rather than water. He gulped down precious air, half-afraid that it might be taken from him at any second. He wanted to look around but his body didn't want to cooperate, his eyes refused to stay open and his body couldn't top shaking, he felt cold all through like the icy water had replaced his blood. Something warm was wrapped around him and he fell against it, consciousness was too much work. He flicked in an out of waking or maybe he was just dreaming, he wasn't completely sure and he could barely remember it anyway, vague voices, blurry people but nothing concrete.

Sunlight was streaming through the windows when he stirred properly, he could feel the rays dancing across his face and opened his eyes just a crack. He was met with the big windows in the hospital wing, the November sky was filled with colors weaving through the air. It was a beautiful sunrise. Scorpius blinked in surprise, hadn't he been drowning? He sat upright and frantically looked around the empty hospital wing, the Head Healer came out of his office looking rather tired and disgruntled.

"Ah, Mr Malfoy you're awake," the snowy-haired healer greeted him neutrally, "how are you feeling?"

"Erm... Not dead," Scorpius answered unsurely, "wasn't I dying?"

"You were until Calderon waved his hands and shattered the ice with lightning, swam in and pulled you out himself - I wasn't there as I was transferring Elwood to St Mungo's but I heard it was pretty impressive - and then that Michael Sanford boy - whose eye you destroyed - brought you back to life with a muggle technique. You're very lucky to be alive, Mr Malfoy."

"If I was really lucky then I wouldn't have nearly died," Scorpius muttered to himself.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Right."

"Can I go?" Scorpius asked hopefully before noting a neat pile of fresh clothes and his wand piled beside his bed, "you brought my clothes and wand?"

"Michael thought you would want your wand with you and need a fresh change of clothes in case you woke up. And you should be able to go this afternoon if all is well. Let's get you something to eat, it'll get your strength back up. And you must be hungry, quite frankly I'm starved so you must be worse."

Scorpius was too busy reeling to feel hungry, he would give that the healer was hungry as the old man was all skin and bones, more bones than skin in Scorpius' opinion. The healer returned with food quickly and encouraged Scorpius to eat it all, if Scorpius paused even slightly than the healer had a habit of asking him he wasn't feeling alright which was frustrating as pausing even to chew seemed to merit the question. Afterwards Scorpius had to endure having spells casted on him to check for this and that while answering question upon question, upon question. Scorpius missed Madam Pomfrey... he didn't actually know the replacement healer's name but he still didn't like him.

"Do you have to ask me so many questions? I feel... better and I really want to get out of here, no offense," Scorpius complained, at the very least he wanted to be alone to think through what had happened. He'd nearly died. The Shadows had gone after him again.

"Yes," the healer snapped, "unless you'd prefer a thorough physical examination? Which I thought you wouldn't considering your history."

"Oh... sorry, that's very nice of you."

"I'm a very nice person," the healer said stiffly, "and you can't go yet, wait a few hours and if you're still okay then you can go. But I want you to come back tomorrow for a check up if you have gone by then and have no problems, I'm not sure how trustworthy the muggle technique is."

Scorpius nodded in understanding and waited patiently after the healer went back to his office, grumbling about difficult people and being overworked. His eyes drifted back to the sunlight streaming through the window, the sun now fully risen into the sky but not managing to project its warmth fully through the cold of near-winter, the gentle calmness of it all seemed strange after nearly dying. Drowning wasn't gentle and calm. It did raise questions though, did that mean the Shadows wanted him dead now? Or had they had some plan to kidnap him after he was separated from everyone beneath the ice and either hadn't had a chance with Calderon showing up or something went wrong? His eyes drifted to his wand by his bed, he wanted to tell Varanian but really they should talk about it more detail than the short messages through the rings. He decided it could wait, it was only three weeks to the Christmas holidays and he'd see him again in person then anyway or he could try the vulture mail again next week.

"Hey, you're awake," Michael's voice greeted him and Scorpius' head shot back round to see his friend coming over to him, he smiled weakly, "how are you feeling?"

"Not bad I guess," Scorpius shrugged, "I heard that was because of you and Calderon saving my life."

"It was pretty much all Calderon really, he broke the ice and dived in to pull you out of the water. I just gave you CPR."

"And CPR wasn't important?"

"Would be useless if Calderon hadn't gotten you out of the ice first."

"I'm just saying don't sell yourself short," Scorpius pointed out to which Michael smiled sheepishly.

"Well I can't really sell myself tall. You know because I'm short," Michael offered jokingly before sobering, looking at him seriously with his painfully mismatched eyes that shot guilt into Scorpius' heart. Michael had saved his life after he'd scarred him and blinded one of his eyes, "are you really okay? You nearly died yesterday and you were completely distraught the night before, can't be easy."

"Its not easy but I can deal," Scorpius told him firmly feeling guilty again about Orous, glumly he wondered if he'd died if he would have deserved it for being a horrible person, "we knew the Shadows would attack again eventually, I told you those Aurors were no good."

"I'm sure they did their best."

"Did their best to kill me."

"The Aurors are the ones trying to keep the school safe."

"I'm sure some of them are but some of them are working for the Shadows, those are the ones that attacked me."

"It can't have been them or at least not them completely," Michael said seriously, "someone in the stands cast the spell that threw you off your broom, all the Aurors were either too busy getting out of the water or not near enough to the match to have done anything."

"Who cast the spell?" Scorpius wondered in a scowl, he hadn't thought of that. It had to be Grant.

"Well it wasn't any of the players, me, Maurice or the handful of others who weren't at the match but it could have been any of the other students there. Eben was referee and also too busy getting out of the water to do it so not him, Calderon, Binns - obviously, Rivers, the head healer and the Divination teacher weren't at the game so not them, Longbottom can't cast spells very accurately with his right arm since he lost his wand arm so he's been ruled out as they would need to be accurate and also Hagrid has been ruled out, something about not having an umbrella and Ashain is ruled out because he nearly died saving your life before so it would be weird that he tried to kill you. Plus Longbottom, Hagrid and Ashain all know Al's dad and are seen as trustworthy."

"So they don't know who did it."

"Yep."

"It was Grant. It had to be him."

"Just because Grant's not a nice person it doesn't mean he tried to kill you and is in league with the Shadows."

"It makes perfect sense, he hates me for stopping their plan last year and he doesn't seem to like Calderon either, also because he stopped their plan."

"Don't you think if the Shadows made a point of sneaking someone in to be a spy then they would get someone more subtle? Grant's dislike makes him an obvious choice and the Shadows wouldn't want their spy to get caught," Michael pointed out.

"I said he was a Shadow, I didn't say he was a particularly skilled one."

Michael didn't look convinced but he didn't press the issue further, instead changing the subject to trivial things like lessons and homework to take Scorpius' mind of things. It was only halfway through the conversation that Scorpius realized that Michael was being like himself again, Scorpius didn't have to pry conversation out of him like he had been since he'd gotten back. He smiled to himself and hoped that it would last, he much preferred it like that, like how it was supposed to be.

It wasn't too long after that that Abby, Albus and Rose came to see him as well - without the Ravenclaws for which Scorpius' was incredibly grateful - and joined the conversation, tediously asking him if he was okay but it didn't bother him so much. It was just like old times, it felt like forever since he'd had all four of his friends together. He'd missed that. Michael's spirit seemed to waver though, he went quieter and kept looking at Rose.

"So... Where's Copper? And his friends?" Michael blurted out abruptly and the other three stiffened, "you know... they're usually with you."

"Me and Devin had a fight," Rose answered stiffly, "apparently he thinks trying to help a friend isn't worth the risk of walking onto ice, he's either being incredibly selfish or incredibly cowardly so I haven't spoken to him since yesterday at the match."

"So... Does that mean you're broken up?" Michael asked sounding almost hopeful.

"It depends what he has to say," Rose told him with a shrug before turning back to Scorpius and swallowing nervously, "that reminds me, I've been meaning to say this all year but I keep putting it off because I think it can wait... Except you nearly died and so I want to say this now: I'm sorry."

"Sorry for what?" Scorpius wondered in confusion shared by Albus and Abby, Michael's expression was more reserved but Rose looked guilty.

"For last year, I didn't believe you about the letter thing with Varanian and I was so mean to you for the rest of the year because of it but you were in the right all along and you saved everyone's lives and I feel really horrible for how I treated you and I'm really sorry, Scorpius, you didn't deserve that."

"Its okay, I forgive you," Scorpius told her truthfully and she looked relieved, "its ancient history, it was a rough year for all of us."

"This year isn't much better," Albus grumbled while Maurice entered and came over to them, "bloody Shadows. Sooner they catch Varanian, the better."

"Varanian's innocent!"

"Well they won't know that for sure until they catch him."

"Its still a waste of effort really," Maurice spoke up earning a glare from Albus and Rose while Abby just rolled her eyes, "a waste of your father's lives, not to mention how it damages the lives of the people they're hunting. If they just accepted the innocent were innocent then they could focus on fighting the Shadows which is a much more productive use of their time. How are you doing, Scor?"

"If they just believed everyone was claimed to be innocent then they'd catch no criminals," Abby pointed out firmly before Scorpius could reply.

"I'm not saying they do that but then they know for sure that someone's innocent then they should let it go, Varanian for one and my father for another."

"They don't know that they're innocent, your opinion isn't fact," Albus snapped, "and where's Corin? Shouldn't you be in his shadow?"

"His father wanted to talk to him, making sure he was feeling alright after what happened yesterday," Maurice explained with a flicker of disapproval on his normally neutral expression, "he said he'd catch up. How are you doing, Scor?"

"I'll be fine," Scorpius told him and Maurice gave him one of his cold smiles, Scorpius wondered if he ever smiled warmly or laughed.

"I'm glad. Maybe I should start coming to Quidditch matches if they're this exciting."

"Exciting?!" Rose burst out furiously, "Scorpius nearly died! The Aurors and referee could have died or lost limbs if they'd still been in the water when it became ice! The other players could also have been in danger if they were knocked off their brooms too! You think lives being at risk is exciting?! You think lives being at risk is fun?! Why are you even here?!"

"Scorpius is my friend. I-"

"Scorpius isn't your friend! You just decided he was your friend and latched onto him and us like a parasite! No one likes you and no one wants you around, not us, not Scorpius and not even Corin! He's just friends with you because he had no one else and now he's befriending Vern and Orous and he's going to ditch you any second! You're creepy disturbing freak and I hate you, everyone hates you! Do the world a favor and drop dead or at least get lost and stop dredging up and making light of Scorpius' bad memories from yesterday!"

"I don't have to take that from you," Maurice said calmly and let go of his translator necklace, "I have got some homework to do, rest up Scor and I'll see you later."

"See you late..." Scorpius started but trailed off when he realized the futility of saying it to a deaf boy who had already let go of his necklace, turned on his heel and started walking away. He expected Michael to see something before noticing Michael had wandered away at some point and was in conversation with the snowy-haired head healer - that Scorpius realized he didn't know the name of - a few beds down. Michael seemed to think the conversation was over and started to head back over to them but the healer grabbed his arm and continued speaking to him, leaving it to Scorpius to complain, "bit harsh maybe, Rose?"

"Come on, he had it coming," Rose protested still raging, "all his anti-Auror talk and my father this and I know everything that, he's such an emotionless cold-hearted heartless stuck up uptight condescending opinionated bastard, always with that stupid neutral expression like he doesn't care about anything happening but always acts like we're idiots compared to him. I can't stand him!"

"What if you hurt his feelings?" Abby added.

"Did he look upset?!"

"No," Abby and Scorpius agreed in unison.

"Well there you go, I'd actually be surprised if he had feelings."

"He's not that bad," Scorpius said defensively but he knew there was no convincing her.

* * *

_The Death Eaters attacked first and in seconds the place from being the center of calm to a war zone, Brutus closed the door more to protect himself from the flurry of lights blazing through the air, two more Aurors came up on the Death Eaters from behind and the chaos only increased. Narcissa had been caught up in the center of the fight but had noticed Brutus and managed to make her way towards him, she was trying to get close enough to get in but was engaged in a duel with one of the Aurors that had come from behind, she was superior in talent but kept knocking him down or back or if she stunned him then he would be revived by the other one._

_"Kill him then he'll stay down," Brutus urged her in a voice so quiet he hadn't thought she heard him but the next jet of light to come from her wand was a blinding green, it struck the Auror and he was thrown lifelessly back to the ground. He wouldn't get up then. Narcissa looked slightly surprised before hardening her expression and closing the distance between them, Brutus let her in but made her stay on the edge with her head out.  
_

_"Which one did that?!" the loudmouthed Auror called, Brutus thought there was probably another Auror with him and Atticus because of the four Death Eaters, three seemed to be engaged in separate duels in that direction while the fourth dueled the other guy who had came from behind._

_"Come on, let's go," Narcissa hissed, "you know the password to open the tunnel to get out of here."_

_"No. My brother's out there," Brutus protested as loudly as he dared to which the woman rolled her eyes._

_"Which one is your brother?" Narcissa wondered peering her head round the door to see.  
_

_"The one with hair like mine."_

_"Well I can see he's fine, let's go."_

_"I'm going over, cover me Conners!" the loudmouthed Auror yelled followed near immediately by a yelp of pain and Brutus saw one of the Death Eaters - Selwyn? - smirk triumphantly._

_"He's still fine, let's go."_

_"Alright then, cover me Ashain!"_

_Apparently having subdued the third Auror, Selwyn fired a killing curse at the other Auror from behind still dueling one of the others, killing him instantly. Rapidly he swung back round and launched another spell in the direction Atticus and the other two Aurors would be, the entire corridor became engulfed in flames and Brutus' tongue was silenced as he yanked Narcissa back out of the way by a cry of pain that sounded like his brother._

_"Selwyn's good," Sal pointed out and Brutus would have jumped that the twins had crept up so close behind to see what was going on if his legs weren't too busy keeping him upright despite shaking so much in fear for Atticus.  
_

_Brutus gripped his wand tightly and started following the movements to put out the fierce flames to get to his brother or stop the flames from hurting him, he fought the urge to throw up imaging his brother burning in that fire. At that point the four of them were thrown back as the door exploded outwards, Selwyn either feeding the flames with more magic or losing control as they started to tumble down the stairs with the fire almost on them-_

* * *

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, SDF and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** I am really sorry this took so long, its been a hectic week and I'm not kidding when I say my feet have barely touched the ground. Bright side though, updates should pick up after next week because then I finish half the course then so will only do have half the days, it runs to August 1st so for August updates should be back to daily or mostly daily again until Call of the Dark is finished_

**_Questions:_**

**_So the Shadows' plan is to take over Scor's body?_**  
_They need Scorpius to physically be in another place to do something but they aren't sure whether they need him to be alive and do it willingly or whether controlling his dead body would be enough_

**_Would he then be the permanent body for Sal?_**  
_No_

**_Why do they want him that badly?_**  
_To revive Sal from a magically induced coma_

**_And what's it got to do with Orous?_**  
_Not a lot, their reasons for the kidnapping them and the scars has absolutely nothing to do with their current reasons for wanting Scorpius_

**_How will he be used?_**  
_Do you mean Scorpius or Orous?_

**_How long is the Gray series going to go? All the way to Scor's seventh year, or will it probably stop before then?_**  
_Originally I planned to do 8, all of Scorpius' years and the final when he's already graduated but I think I might try do it in 7 instead because people think these are too long. At an absolute minimum there will have to be at least 6  
_

**_Do you base the characters on anyone?_**  
_Not really no. Some characters I got their names from books or TV shows or things but that's really just the name, has nothing to do with their personality_

**_Were the two men Aurors?_**  
_They were Shadows, whether they are Aurors or not I can't say sorry_


	40. II: Surviving

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, SDF and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Could they possibly be students as Shadows?_**  
_Again can't say who they were beyond they were actually Shadows_

* * *

_And then Brutus felt like he'd been thrown of a cliff, the breath was forced from his body and he felt like he was falling naked through a torrent of cold wind cutting him through to the bone. All he could see was shadow darkness and for a second wondered if he was dead before they were tumbling again, only this time onto grass under the gently glow of the dawn light, gasping for breath as if they'd been drowning._

_Brutus couldn't stop shivering, his shaking limbs felt as weak and useless as infant's and his insides were churning. He opted to just lay on the grass for a moment and catch his breath, the sun gave him no warmth and he felt cold through to the bone. He tried to look around but things were spinning and spotty patches of darkness plagued his vision, he wasn't sure if he was going to pass out or if he actually did._

_He didn't seem to be physically hurt and gradually his body seemed to recovered from... whatever in the hell had just happened and they were on a grassy hill in some kind of a field, Narcissa and the twins were with him and seemed to be doing better than he was. A sense of masculine pride prompted him to join them in sitting up, immediately regretting the way it made his head spin and his stomach do another somersault._

_"What just happened?!" Narcissa demanded an answer to the question that Brutus was also wondering about._

_"I think we were transported, Aunt Narcissa," Sal pointed out quietly looking at her brother, Tommy was sitting with his arms wrapped protectively around himself as he rocked back and forth. _

_"Aunt Narcissa doesn't like to be called Aunt Narcissa," Tommy whispered to his sister._

_"I meant how!" Narcissa snapped giving her nephew a glare.  
_

_"Tommy does a lot of weird stuff with magic," Brutus offered worriedly and Narcissa opened and closed her mouth a few times as she glared at the boy before seeming to decide she wasn't likely to get a straight answer out of him._

_"Fine," Narcissa said finally and stiffly before looking at him, pausing as if trying to remember his name but coming up with a blank, "er... you. Why don't you go and get help or something?"_

_"Why don't you?" Brutus countered irritably, he didn't answer to some snotty Malfoy._

_"Because you're the Death Eater!"_

_"Well fine but you have to guard the twins, m-"_

_Narcissa apparated away before Brutus could even finish his sentence, he started to shake his head at her bias but stopped. Partially because he supposed it was understandable, he'd envisioned monsters when he first heard 'Voldemort's children' too and partially because it made his head start spinning again.  
_

_"The Shadows can teleport!?" Sal yelled at Tommy as she got to her feet, "the Dementor's Shadows can freakin' teleport?! You didn't think to mention this earlier?! You didn't think to use it to get the hell away from Azkaban years ago?!"_

_"I didn't know!" Tommy protested in a high pitched shriek looking up and starting to get to his feet shakily, golden light was pulsing around him.  
_

_"I don't believe you!"_

_"Its the truth!"  
_

_"How did you know how to do it then?!"_

_"I didn't! I just thought we had to get out of there and then my Shadows took us out of there."_

_"Liar!" _

_As Sal screeched, a pulse of blue light shot out from her to her brother, it collided with Tommy's pulsing lights and exploded. The three of them were thrown backwards by the shockwave and Brutus was glad for the grass that made for a soft landing, he didn't think he'd been thrown as far as back as the twins for being furthest away. He heard Tommy's maniacal high-pitched laughter as he sat up, blinking in surprise as he saw the grass between where each of them had been standing was scorched. He couldn't see Tommy, he'd been knocked down the hill but Sal was getting back up and surveying the damage. It reminded him of Atticus' unknown fate. He had to go back and see if his brother was alright, he could need healing or... he didn't even want to think of the possibility of his brother being dead.  
_

_"Tommy?" Brutus called out as he approached where the boy had been standing, the demented laughter echoing around them._

_"That was fun!" Tommy yelled back and Brutus saw he was sitting on the grass laughing, "I rolled down the hill!"_

_"That's great now come on, I have to go find my brother," Brutus told him as he came down the hill with Sal who still looked angry while Tommy remained sitting and laughing to himself with his eyes closed, not wanting a repeat of what had just happened he grabbed Sal's arm to pull her back to speak to her before she could reach her brother, "leave Tommy be, I don't think he did know and even if he did, he's mad. What do you expect?"  
_

_"Okay, I wonder what else the Shadows can do," Sal mused as she nodded in understanding and her anger seemed to fade, he let go of her arm and continued on before she took his hand and he frustratedly yanked it away._

_"What did I tell you about doing that?!"_

_"To not to."_

_"So don't do it!"_

_"The grass is longer here," Tommy told them seriously, smiling to himself as he ran his hand over the blades changing their color every time his palm touched them. Brutus just sighed and hauled him up, Tommy didn't fight it and continued watching the color-changing grass with interest.  
_

_"Now I have to go check on my brother to see if he's alright and you two are coming with me because I'm not just abandoning you here so-"_

_"Your brother is alright, he cried out because his arm was burned getting the injured guy and the loud guy out of the path of the flames before they were burned up but he's alive, he blew out the window and got them out before the fire consumed the room. The fire killed one of the Death Eaters though, the Aurors killed another one as he tried to escape but Selwyn and the fourth got away."  
_

_"And you know this how?" Brutus wondered dubiously._

_"If Shadow bound to you is in a different place to you then you can see through its eyes," Sal explained for him.  
_

_"Wanna see?" Tommy asked darkly._

_Without giving Brutus a chance to reply, Tommy reached up and placed his hand on the side of Brutus' face. Brutus felt like he was being engulfed by icy cold water and his vision seemed to cloud over with a shadowy haze that started to shift into an image, overlaying his current view of the sky, grass and a tree behind Tommy which just left everything as an indistinguishable jumble of colors._

_"Close you eyes," Tommy commanded and Brutus felt obligated to obey._

_The instant his eyes were shut, the image that had overlayed his vision became clearly but still oddly misty. It still took him a minute to realize what he was seeing, it was St Mungo's, a rather empty ward that. The man sitting on the closest bed shivered and drew Brutus' attention to him, with relief he recognized the man as his brother. His relief halted when he saw Atticus' arm was all burnt and blistery, which was probably why the man dressed as a healer was looking at it. There was another man dressed an Auror in the bed beside Atticus, Brutus thought he was probably more seriously injured as he looked unconscious and two healers were working on him. _

_There was something extremely odd about it all though, every one of the people he could see seemed to be burning in flames that didn't seem to be hurting them, they didn't seem to notice them either or maybe were just ignoring them. The Auror in the bed was burning in gray flames but the other seemed to be slightly different shades of white, Atticus' seemed to be brightest._

_"Did it just get really cold in here?" Atticus asked, his voice sounding muffled and distant._

_"No," the healer seeing to his arm answered, "but if you're feeling cold, it could be a sign of infection."_

_"No, no, I'm pretty sure I'm fine," Atticus said quickly before cringing at whatever the healer just did to his arm, "apart from the burned arm. Will it take long to heal? I want to get back to work."_

_"Back to work?!" Brutus repeated furiously, "you nearly got incinerated by magical fire and you want to get back to work?! Are you insane, Atty?!"_

_"He can't hear you," Tommy told him as he moved his hand away from Brutus' face._

_He felt like he slipping out of the cold water he was immersed in, falling out of the cold and he realized he was actually falling in reality and hit the ground with a thud. Brutus suppressed the urge to groan as he got up, his vision was back to normal and the images of his brother in the hospital were gone, everything looked a lot brighter after the tinted Shadow sight. _

_"So that's really real?" Brutus wondered, "why are the people on fire?"_

_"You see through their eyes, that's how see. Its not fire, its their souls," Tommy explained quietly, "they can see the color of people's souls, its important to them. They feed off pain and they destroy souls because tearing a soul apart is the worst kind of pain so its the most... filling I guess - not that they're ever full - usually they do that to white souls. Dark souls have already torn their own soul apart by choosing to do such evil things, they don't get much sustenance off them. Gray souls are their favorites though, their souls are already damaged but not too far gone so they... taste the best or they get the most out of them or something. They're also the hardest to get, they can't touch them unless the soul is willing."  
_

_"Why would someone willingly do that?"_

_"Enough time with a Dementor and they think its preferable I guess," Tommy shrugged and suddenly looked at him fearfully, "don't make me ask them, I don't like talking to them."_

_"You can talk to them?" _

_"Not with words. But yes."_

* * *

The topic changed and Michael came back over to them shortly before Corin came to drop in his best wishes, Hal, Professor Ashain and everyone from the Gryffindor Quidditch team - minus James - came to check on him at some point before the head healer let him at lunch. Molly's visit was the best though, she hugged him and he didn't feel cold anymore then, the scent of cherries flooded his senses. He wished he didn't have to let her go. Molly stayed with him and his friends until he was assessed by the head healer and let go for lunch, she sat with them at lunch too. Scorpius thought she felt a bit bad about him nearly dying during her first Quidditch match as Captain, it was only then that he remembered that he'd caught the Snitch and won the game before he fell.

It was an interesting lunch, the first time since he'd been back from his suspension that Michael was there and everyone within earshot were asking him about how he'd brought back Scorpius from the dead and he could bring back some dead relative or friend or famous dead person they thought it would be cool to meet, Michael had to calmly and patiently more than once - sometimes to the same people - that he couldn't. Maurice wasn't at lunch, nor was Orous though and poor Vern was looking very lonely by himself. Molly split with them after lunch to go off with Nick, Nick had the audacity to say he was glad that Scorpius was alright and congratulate him on his win.

"That bastard," Scorpius grumbled after Molly left with Nick, hand in hand.

They headed to the library after that to catch up their work, although he thought the teachers - except Grant - would be lenient on it considering the events of Saturday. It felt good to be sitting doing homework with his friends again, his usual group of friends, he'd missed hanging out with them. Even though people still kept coming up to Michael to ask him about reviving the dead, he had more patience than Scorpius thought he would have if people were asking him instead. Dinner was thankfully quieter though, sitting near the same people helped lessen the amount of people asking Michael questions. Maurice wasn't at dinner either but Orous was, the albino didn't seem interesting in anything Vern was saying though, he looked depressed even for him.

Scorpius thought he would go asleep quickly that night but he lay awake, his eyes wouldn't close no matter what way he tossed and turned. That made it worse, his mind went back to nearly drowning or actually drowning and being revived. Either way, he'd nearly died and he'd really thought he was going to die. What bothered him more than the thought of dying was the thought of dying without having done things, important things. If he died then Varanian would be alone in his fight against the Shadows, Scorpius wasn't sure how much he really helped but abruptly dying almost made him feel like he was abandoning Varanian and he didn't want to do that. He couldn't let himself die until he and Varanian had the Shadows jailed, disbanded or dead. There was also avenging his grandfather, if he died then who would kill the Shadow Master? There was no guarantee that anyone would do that. He couldn't let himself die until he'd avenged his grandfather's soul.

Then there was Orous. The guilt still weighed heavily on his mind, memories of his time with muggles pricked at his mind and let it bleed through into his thoughts, tears leaked from his eyes as he tried to imagine what it would have been like if he'd been connected to someone then, someone who could've spared him but had stupidly and selfishly decided to just leave him to suffer. He didn't blame Orous for being hurt and angry. It was too late to help Orous, nothing eased the pain of the memories and he wasn't even sure where to start on the magic being ripped out of his soul and put back or what effects that specifically had. But there were those other two missing boys, Lorcan and Lysander Scamander, maybe he could help them. He could at least try. He would have to work up the courage to tell Varanian and ask his help, maybe he knew a spell to retrace his steps from the park to the house to find the muggles, if the Scamander boys were being held in the same place then maybe he could save them. He would at least try, he couldn't let himself die without at least trying to help them.

Michael was also on his mind, he'd been happy to have discovered a talent for Quidditch before Scorpius had taken his eye and destroyed his chances. Scorpius wasn't sure how to help him but he wanted to, he wanted Michael to get a prosthetic eye and get back on that broom. Ideally he also wanted Michael to also not have a family who didn't care enough about him to let him go home for any holidays or contact him all year unless it was a letter to send him worrying for weeks, where he was in a bunch of car crashes and broke his wrist falling down the stairs... For a brief moment Scorpius felt like he was missing something but the feeling passed, there was nothing he could do for that anyway. He didn't want to die until he knew Michael was okay, not half-blind, grounded and isolated.

And finally, his most selfish thought: Molly. His thoughts about her had nothing to do with fixing something he'd done wrong with her. His thoughts about her was that he liked her, he really liked her and he didn't want it to just be a fantasy to date to her, to hold her hand and kiss her, hug her and be overwhelmed by her beautiful smell of cherries,. He wanted it to have actually happened. He didn't care that she was two years older than him, he didn't care that she was with someone else and seemed happy with him. He wanted to go up to her and blurt out that he liked her, she was the most beautiful girl in the world and he loved the way she smiled or that her eyes were the color of the sky on a perfect day or the way she veered off into tangents and ranted about Quidditch faster than a motorcycle and she could make him smile even when he felt down and the list went on. He wanted her to know how much he liked her, how much she meant to him, how wonderful she was. He wanted her to know and to like him back, for her to smile at him the way she smiled at Nick. He knew he'd die before that happened though.

* * *

_"Brutus, what's that?" Sal questioned and Brutus was grateful for the change in conversation, Shadows just disturbed him. He glanced in the direction she was pointing and saw it was a sheep, plodding over to much on the grass near them, Tommy also looked at it and shared Sal's expression of amazement and awe. _

_"Its a sheep," Brutus pointed out blandly but they continued to look amazed, the grass all around them was now golden which didn't seem to bother the sheep._

_"What does it do?"_

_"Nothing, its just an animal."_

_"I like it," Tommy announced brightly as his smile returned, "it looks fluffy."_

_"It does," Sal agreed looking intrigued and Brutus sighed tiredly, "it also looks kind of like a cloud with legs and a head."  
_

_"Do you think it can turn into a cloud?"_

_"Brutus, can it turn into a cloud?"  
_

_"No!" Brutus snapped in a growl, "its just a stupid sheep! The only thing it can turn into is a scratchy sweater and a mutton steak."_

_"What does that mean? Its some kind of transfiguration creature?"_

_"No! People shave them and get the wool when they get too much... hair which becomes clothes or they kill them and use the meat for food or to sell for food or however it works. I don't know, I'm an Ashain not a peasant farmer."_

_"They-They kill them?" Sal stammered out looking horrified, he noticed Tommy's eyes filling with tears, "but its not hurting anyone, why would they kill it?"  
_

_"For food. This can't be news for you, where do you think the meat you eat comes from?"_

_"Magic."_

_"You can't conjure food."_

_"I know, I thought you magicked it from... the place... where the food is."_

_"S-So every time we ate meat, we were eating poor cloudy sheep?" Tommy managed to ask before he fell to his knees and started crying, "I'm sorry sheep!"_

_"Different meats come from different ani- Don't you think you're overreacting?" Brutus complained but Tommy looked distraught and even Sal seemed to have abandoned him on reason as well._

_"Don't you think you're under-reacting?" Sal countered giving a glare._

_"You want to kill all Death Eaters but you have a problem with sheep?"_

_"Sheep never did anything to me. Death Eaters did."_

_"I'm never eating meat ever again," Tommy announced firmly._

_"You can't do tha-"_

_"Neither am I," Sal agreed stubbornly folding her arms._

_"Lots of animals eat other animals, its normal!"_

_"Well I'm not normal."_

_Brutus opened his mouth but decided against it, simply throwing his hands up in defeat, he was too tired and too worried to bother arguing with them, Tommy was simply insane and Sal was very difficult to sway from something she believed. He just hoped he wouldn't be blamed for their vegetarianism or that they would get over it. _

_Rodolphus took that moment to arrive with a handful of Death Eaters, Narcissa wasn't with them, Brutus had his wand back out the second he heard apparating before he saw who it was. And then he saw Selwyn was amongst them and the grip on his wand tightened, Rodolphus was saying words but Brutus wasn't listening. All he could hear was his brother's cry of pain and the burned up arm, he didn't realize what he'd done until Selwyn was on the ground writing and screaming. He didn't release him from the Cruciatus Curse though. He didn't feel a shred of sympathy._

_"Stop!" one of the other Death Eaters commanded._

_"Fine," Brutus snapped and obeyed even though he wasn't sure if it was Rodolphus who'd spoken or not, Selwyn lay breathing heavily on the ground and Brutus raised his wand again, he wasn't done yet. No one was going to hurt his brother and get away with it, he flicked his wand again causing a crack and Selwyn screamed clutching the arm - the same one injured as Atticus - Brutus had just non-verbally broken. Crack. Crack. Crack. Selwyn's arm was becoming increasingly bent out of shape, the Death Eater was howling in agony and demanding he stop and what had he ever done to Brutus, "you tried to burn my brother alive! MY brother!"_

_"Okay I think that's enough," Rodolphus announced smoothly stepping between them, he had Tommy in tow and Brutus' anger recoiled seeing in the few minutes since they'd arrived Rodolphus had already given poor Tommy a fresh split lip and a cut on his cheek, "we have the twins now, you're relieved. We'll be in touch."_

* * *

It had been a hectic November for Scorpius and in comparison, December was incredibly mild. He finished catching up his work in the first week and was back in line with everyone else - meaning no extra sessions - and either Calderon or Molly had decided there were no Quidditch practices until they came back for the New Year after the Christmas holidays - meaning no practices - so Scorpius found his time especially free. Not for the first time he missed being Calderon's assistant. He missed Calderon in general. At least he'd feel safer.

Because he didn't feel safe. Every corner he rounded the Aurors were there, every doorway he passed, maybe he was just feeling paranoid but the school was crawling with them. Every time he saw them, he couldn't help but if they were one of the ones who'd nearly killed him, if they were the Shadows that he and Varanian were after. It wasn't just that though. The realization that the Shadows had been in his abduction had ruined the illusion of safety he felt in the wizarding world, that as long as he stayed in and not wander into the muggle world than he'd be safe from reliving that nightmare even with everything going on, nothing seemed as bad as that so it was a little safety net at the back of his mind. But not it had burned up in the flames that had scorched the bannisters up the stairs. He wasn't safe. He never had been.

Rose spending so much time with them had only lasted the first week until she and Copper patched things up, she seemed oblivious to it being an issue as Copper liked them well enough. Either she didn't know about Copper's issue with Michael or Copper had changed his mind after what Michael had done. It didn't matter though, he had no intention of spending a single second with Copper and neither did Michael. Abby and Albus seemed to have picked up on their dislike of Copper because they alternated their time between Rose and the Ravenclaws or Scorpius and Michael.

Michael at least seemed to be more himself again, he still went off on his own sometimes but mostly he would hang out with Scorpius like he used to, act like himself and had even stopped pouring over his stepdad's letter every other waking moment, Scorpius had also managed to coax him into having dinner a few times. Molly was still spending a lot of time with Nick but she did sit with him at meals sometimes leading up to Christmas. Things with his first year friends wasn't great though, he hadn't spoken to Orous since learning he was the voice and he was pretty sure Orous had no intention of carrying on being friends with him, Maurice was also giving him the cold shoulder and had apparently had a falling out with Corin because it was all Corin would complain about at meals or when he and Vern sat with them in the library.

"What do you think I should get her for Christmas?" Albus asked one night at the beginning of the second week of December as they were getting into bed.

"Who?" Scorpius wondered as he pulled the drapes back open to talk to him.

"Professor Vipera, of course."

"You're getting her a present for Christmas?"

"You got Calderon that dragon necklace he always wears, think I should get her a necklace?"

"That's different."

"How?" Albus demanded propping his head up on his elbow.

"Well for one, I actually know him and you don't know Vipera-"

"I know she's beautiful."

"That's not knowing her," Scorpius complained, "and for another, I was just giving him a gift because I care about him not because I had a crush on him and was trying to impress him. And for third, you're thirteen and she's like thirty, you can't seriously think this will work out?"

"I'm in_ love_ with her, you don't give up on love," Albus pointed out and smiled, "did you notice today that she spoke to me?"

"You mean when she told you that your shoelace was undone?"

"Yes! It shows she likes me back, she was caring about my wellbeing."

"Sure she wasn't just doing her job?"

"Obviously," Albus snorted as if he should have known that, "but I don't know what she would like for Christmas."

"Just get her a card," Michael offered from his own bed on Scorpius' other side, "and go to sleep."

"Hey that reminds me, are you staying at Hogwarts over the holidays again?"

"Yep."

"That also reminds me," Scorpius spoke up recalling Jack's offer and the fact they would be starting to collect names of who was staying or going soon if they hadn't started already, "I... saw your dad briefly while I was suspended, he said to tell you that you could spend the Christmas holidays with him if you wanted."

"No."

"You're not even going to think about it?"

"There's nothing to think about."

"You'd really rather spend Christmas _alone_ here than with your own_ father_?" Scorpius wondered in disbelief.

"Yes! Its really not that bad here and you don't know Jack like I do, he's unreliable," Michael said firmly, "he promises this and promises that but never keeps them. Do you know how many birthdays or Christmases he forgot? Do you know how many times he promised he'd show up to a school play or a sports day and then just didn't? Do you know how many times he agreed to see me or take me somewhere or something but then he just didn't show up? Its always 'I'm sorry, was that this Saturday?' or 'I'm sorry, I was so wasted last night I forgot my alarm' or 'I'm sorry, I met this girl and time ran away with me' or 'I'm sorry, I was winning in poker and I didn't want to break my lucky streak' or like a million other reasons. You can't apologize for breaking a promise, if you really meant it then you'd have kept it."

"Maybe he will be there this time, maybe he's trying and you should give him a chance."

"No, I'll just turn up and he'll forget and I'll have to call my mum and then I'll be in big trouble with Bob. You don't know him like I do, Scorpius, he never cared about my mum and he never cared about me and he never will."

"I think he does care ab-"

"No, Scorpius. Let it go," Michael interrupted with a note of finality in his voice that made them fall silent, only Reuben and Angelo's snore and sleep sounds could be heard.

"You know Michael," Albus began nervously, "my parents really wouldn't mind if you stayed over the holidays, James is getting a friend to stay over with him and my dad is sympathetic because he knows whats it like to have to stay in Hogwarts for Christmas."

"I really appreciate the offer but I can't, I'm sorry."

"Why not?"

"Well... no offense but your brother kind of picks on me enough at school, spending two weeks in the same house as him doesn't seem like a good idea."

"Ah fair point. Sorry."

* * *

_**Author's Note:** Daily updates resume in August for sure and they will be faster this week than last week, its just been a busy summer but aside from the course I'm on there's nothing else to cut into my time unless something happens which hoping it won't because I want to finish this in August. Would anyone actually read 8 of these though? The first one was 80 chapters and this is 40 and counting. Also wondering if people like the flashbacks? Out of curiosity any particular past event or anyone's past you want to see more of for III? Last one it was flashbacks from Scorpius/Lucius' past and in this one its really important because I cut out Lucius finding out about the Specter origins in I to shorten it so this is Brutus finding out about them instead (which is why his point of view) and a bit extra while I'm in that timeline. I forget the other thing I was going to say so thanks for reading  
_


	41. II: Christmas Cheer

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter, SDF and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!  
_

_**Author's Note:** this is more a filler before Christmas, hope you don't mind. Also can I just say its funny how two of you said flashbacks for Michael/Jack, that was my original plan for III's flashbacks! Well them and Michael's mother a bit, you haven't met her yet though but will later this book_

**_Is it possible that students will be Shadows?_**  
_Yep_

**_When will we hear about the room of requirement?_**  
_After Christmas_

* * *

_Brutus was glad to get home, he'd had enough Death Eaters and Shadows and chaos for one day. He went straight to his brother's room but Atticus wasn't back yet, or at least not in his room so he started checking the other rooms Atticus could possibly be in. It was times like that that Brutus wished they had a smaller mansion, the place was a labyrinth to comb through looking for anyone or anything._

_He heard a cry and raced towards it immediately, his wand had slipped into his hand automatically. He rushed into the room only prepared with a few curses perched on the tip of his tongue. Only to see it was empty except for his father, Aurelius was sitting up on the couch and rubbing his eyes._

_"Where did they go?" Brutus hissed quietly scanning around for any sign of intruders but seeing only a still room, every little thing in its appropriate place._

_"They?" his father wondered sleepily looking around frantically and fearfully._

_"Why did you cry out if nothing was wrong?!"_

_"Nightmare. I only sat down for a second I swear, I didn't... I didn't mean to fall asleep. Dammit. What time is it? How long was I out? Death Eaters could have overrun the house by now, oh no what have I done? Stupid, stupid sleep. I need to go secure the house and scout for any signs of intruders escaping or hiding or waiting to attack outside, after I check on Mother and Father and the house-elves."_

_His father looked extremely upset and Brutus regretted snapping at him, he went to stand before being overcome by a harsh hacking cough so violent it forced him to sit. Brutus went over worriedly, in time to see his father cough up some tiny pieces of something white. He fell back against the cushions looking utterly exhausted, his eyelids were fighting to close over bloodshot eyes, deeply sunken into sickly gray skin stretched over his skull, his extremely dark auburn hair was matted with dirt and Brutus thought the tattered black robes hadn't been cleaned in a while. His father was trembling but still went to stand up again, Brutus grabbed his father's wrist and pulled back onto the couch as he sat beside him._

_"Maybe rest for just a moment, eh?" Brutus offered guiltily._

_"A moment can make all the difference in the world!" his father protested, "a lot can happen in a moment, it only takes a moment to die, a moment to cast a non-verbal spell."_

_"You just coughed up those white bits, a moment to rest will do more good than harm."_

_"Oh that's nothing, it happens sometimes since I started only eating in my animagus form. An eagle's diet isn't the easiest to digest as human, or at least not the bones."_

_"Why in the world are you doing that?"_

_"Because food I hunt for is obviously not poisoned whereas food just lying around is vulnerable to sabotage, it also gives me a chance to scout the grounds for intruders. And I get along with those vultures now, they keep a lookout for me when I'm inside, of course they think I'd be better off just living as an eagle but that has its disadvantages like being unable to use magic if I'm attacked and or talk to you and Atty when either of you are actually around anyway. Of course another disadvantage is that I am a registered animagus so they'll know to look for a golden eagle and attack me when I'm vulnerable without magic."_

_"That's... really not healthy," Brutus pointed out gently while his father started gnawing on his fingernails, fingernails that Brutus realized were already chewed into the pink, he moved his father's hand away from his quickly as he was pretty sure that wasn't healthy, "you have to relax."_

_"How can I relax?!" his father burst out as tears leaked from his eyes, "there's a war going on! We could be attacked at any minute and even we're not, you and Atty go out into the midst of the war every day! On opposite sides of the war no less! Its only a matter of time before you both get hurt and killed, the war's going to destroy the both of you, take your lives and take your souls too."_

_"That's not going to happen," Brutus protested trying to sound reassuring while not thinking about the Shadows of Dementors._

_"Atticus!" his father exclaimed and Brutus' head turned so quickly his neck hurt to look in the direction of the door to catch a glimpse of his brother hurrying by._

_"Hey," Atticus called with a dismissive wave without missing a step as he left their sight._

_"Hang on," Brutus growled to his father as he jumped up to go after his brother, Atticus was already halfway up the corridor, "Atty! Hey! Where are you going?!"_

_"To bed," Atticus grumbled without stopping and Brutus grabbed his arm to make him stop, Atticus cringed and Brutus noticed bandages peeking out from his sleeve on the arm he'd seen injured when Tommy had shown him the hospital through the Shadow's eyes. He let go immediately. He hadn't been able to notice though that his brother was looking unusually disheveled, even a few tears on his clothing and smattering of a dirt, "I haven't really slept the last couple of days, been working. Did you want something?"_

_"What happened to your arm?" Brutus demanded despite already knowing the answer._

_"Just a... scratch," Atticus said slowly until Brutus scowled, "okay fine a burn but not a bad one, I just didn't want father to know in case he freaks out and worries. Its stupid really, now I have to take a few days off minimum according to stupid Cistro just because some stupid idiot didn't follow protocol."  
_

_"You could've died and your reaction is 'damn I have to miss a few days of work?!'"_

_"Well... yeah, what did you expect it to be?"_

_"You're such a workaholic," Brutus muttered shaking his head in disbelief to which Atticus looked offended._

_"My job is important to me, I worked to hard to become an Auror and I like being an Auror and I want to do whatever I can to end this war and get rid of every last blasted piece of Death Eater scum," Atticus told him defensively and Brutus' eyes drifted subconsciously to the place his Dark Mark rested, he dreaded to think what Atticus would say if and when he found out. Was blood thicker than water?_

_ "Do you even know what today is?"_

_"Um... Tuesday?"_

_"Christmas! And its not even Tuesday."_

* * *

December flew by for Scorpius, he had to admit the task of being the one to go around asking everyone what their holiday plans were was the one task he didn't miss as being Calderon's assistant. Especially when everyone could be against him. It did make Scorpius sad seeing the decorations around the castle and the trees though, last year he'd helped Calderon do it. He really did miss that, he really missed Calderon. Nearly dying seemed to have changed public opinion of him, he hadn't really realized Gryffindor had been shunning him for losing so many points earlier in the year until people started apologizing for it because catching the Snitch and winning the game made up for it, especially after 'dying' to do it. Everyone was talking about it, Calderon was the name on everyone's lips as a hero along with the one-eyed boy who'd revived the dead. Gryffindor was an extremely fickle house.

In general lessons were winding down with less work or homework, most students would be glad for that but Scorpius liked things to keep his mind from dwelling on things. It wasn't all bad though, he could cast silvery wisps with the Patronus spell if he focused on the positive thoughts from memories like he had been. The downside was how exhausted it left him and how much his wrist hurt, he seemed to be only one who had that problem but then he dared not ask Professor Ashain about it because it would mean telling him about his wrist. Considering what he knew about the Shadows' involvement and that the wound probably had been caused magically... he didn't actually want to think about why.

He didn't seem to be waking up in a sweat as often, that was also a plus. He was also glad that he didn't have to worry about his friends losing their memories over the holidays like he had last Easter at least, although he did feel bad for Michael staying at Hogwarts alone again. In a way he wanted to invite Michael to stay with him but he wasn't sure his parents and grandmother would agree to a muggle-born staying with them, even if he didn't have to keep his time free for Varanian. Michael would just have to stay at Hogwarts for another Christmas considering he shot down Jack and Albus' offers, Scorpius thought he really should've given Jack a chance though. He wasn't perfect but he did seem to care about Michael at least, more so than the people Michael actually lived with. Plus Jack had a motorcycle.

Too soon Scorpius found himself packing up his things for Christmas, unlike Albus who again couldn't get everything to fit without Michael's help before Reuben and Angelo slyly asked for Michael's help as well since he'd done such a great job last Easter. Then they were heading off to the last breakfast he'd have with his friends for two weeks, Michael had graciously decided to sit with them at a reasonable time instead of waking up and eating extremely early like usual. The girls were late though, they had to patiently wait for them.

"Sorry we're late," Rose apologized as her and Abby sat down with them, "packing is a nightmare, how do you make everything fit so fast?"

"Ah we have Michael for that," Albus offered with a grin.

"You have got to learn to fold things, fits much better than things bundled up in a ball," Michael pointed out.

"Forget that," Corin butted in beaming, "this is going to be such an awesome Christmas! After we get to Kings Cross I'm getting another train back to France where I'm being picked up to go home, I'm spending the holidays with Mother back in Beauxbatons where the Yule Ball will be happening, I get to go to it, Mother is buying me new dress robes. I know dances are boring but how often can you say that you got to go to the Yule Ball when you were eleven? Plus its kind of nice, the Triwizard Tournament is the reason my parents met and Father is coming to stay to spend Christmas in France. Isn't that great?"

"I might see you then, Corin," Abby added, "we're visiting my sister on Christmas there, I don't think we're staying for the Yule Ball but before then I'll be in Beauxbatons."

"Well you're in for a treat, Beauxbatons is such a beautiful place. Way better than this dump, right Maurice?"

Maurice wasn't actually paying attention to their conversation, he hadn't really been paying much attention to them since November and his falling out with Corin although Corin seemed to be making an effort to mend fences as the holidays had drawn closer, Michael made sure they still sat with him and would try coax him into conversation with little success. Maurice wasn't actually eating, his plate was empty and he was simply resting his head on his hand and staring at with eyes lost in thought. Corin prodded him to draw him back to reality and repeated what he'd said when Maurice dragged his hand to his necklace.

"Right Corin, whatever you say," Maurice agreed disinterestedly.

"Do you guys think the Ball will get my parents to fall in love again and get back together and get married and I won't be a bastard anymore?" Corin asked wistfully and Scorpius felt a pang of sympathy but it was Michael who spoke.

"No. Don't get your hopes up or they'll just be crushed, people break up for a reason," Michael pointed out and Corin's face fell slightly but he nodded in understanding.

"What are your plans for Christmas, Maurice?" Rose inquired of the deaf boy before his hand could leave his necklace again, "your father planning on crashing our Christmas and starting another fist fight with my uncle like he did Aunt Audrey's funeral?"

"We don't do Christmas," Maurice answered blandly.

"How normal."

"Hey Michael," Calderon greeted his friend brightly and Scorpius jumped having not noticed the former assistant coming over to them, he was only wearing his muggle clothes and the silver dragon necklace that Scorpius had gotten him last Christmas, "happy holidays everyone else. Just wondered if you're still staying for Christmas?"

"Yeah," Michael nodded and frowned, "why?"

"There was only three people staying this year including you, considering everything with Hogwarts people want their children closer to home I guess. Last week someone said they were staying with a friend instead and the friend's parents consented to it, this morning I got an owl from the parents of the second changing their minds and agreeing the child is going back. I just wanted to check that you are still staying."

"I am. I'll be the only student left at Hogwarts? Does that happen often?"

"Not really often, if it does happen then conventionally the Head Master simply rules they have to go back home."

"You're going to make me go home?" Michael wondered looking almost fearful.

"I said _conventionally the Head Master_ blah blah blah, when do I do anything conventionally?" Calderon pointed out with an insane grin that Michael returned, "you're more than welcome to stay but you have been warned, company is thin on the ground. See you at the carriages."

Scorpius offered him a wave of his hand in goodbye and hoped that Calderon was actually telling the truth and would be at the carriages, he would rather like to say goodbye and wish him a good Christmas. He did feel worse for Michael being alone though. Breakfast went back to normal conversation, discussing their Christmas plans and Abby worrying about her father getting his new arm, Maurice stopped paying attention again though. Then they were heading down to the carriages to go, Abby, Albus and even Corin took turns hugging Michael goodbye. Vern came over to them to give Michael a present and say goodbye as well, he wished them all a merry Christmas which earned him an unnecessary glare from Albus.

"Merry Christmas, Michael, take care," Rose offered as she threw her arms around him.

"You too," Michael said quickly as he pulled away equally quickly and grabbed Scorpius' arm, leading him away from the others, "I need to talk to Scorpius in private about something, back in a minute."

"What is it that can't be said in front of the others?" Scorpius wondered as they walked out of earshot, it was only then he noticed the crimson tinge to Michael's cheeks, "why are you blushing?"

"Not used to be hugged so much," Michael told him uncomfortably before becoming serious, "its just about Maurice and I know the others don't particularly care much for him or his well-being, well except Corin but still. I just wanted to ask you to sit with him on the train, make sure he's okay... I think he's having a tough time of things, feeling like he failed his father for not getting that Patronus and not looking forward to the holidays so just... you know keep an eye on him on the train, remind him that he's not alone."

"Well... okay, Rose is sitting with Copper on the train and she's the one who really has issues with him. Albus and Abby can probably live with it."

"Thanks. And have a good Christmas, Scorpius."

"You too. Or as much as you can anyway," Scorpius offered and braced himself for being hugged but Michael just nodded and started walking back to the others, Scorpius went after him, "you're not going to hug me?"

"Well you don't like being hugged, you cringe every time," Michael pointed out with a shrug and Scorpius met his mismatched eyes again, one hazel and one grotesque slit that Scorpius had destroyed, looking at his friend's eyes and the jagged scar ruining his face made the guilt gnaw at him. He hugged Michael before he could change his mind, he seemed surprised but smiled.

"Merry Christmas, and be careful with those Aurors around," Scorpius told him seriously as he pulled away, Michael nodded again before looking amused.

"Did my father give you that jacket?"

"Yeah. Why? Does it bother you?"

"Nah, just be careful because its probably stolen. When I was five he gave me a load of stolen gifts for Christmas, got to watch them get taken away by the authorities," Michael explained with a weak laugh and a shake of his head, "you have to laugh at these things."

Scorpius returned the smile and waved bye as he was beckoned over to the carriages by the others who were climbing or already into the one while Corin seemed to have, minus Maurice who was stopped by Michael. Scorpius was amazed to see Michael make gestures with his hands like Corin did, Maurice's usual neutral expression was shattered by his stunned amazement before the faintest hint of a smile breezed his face. He nodded and said something that Scorpius was too far away to hear.

Scorpius petted the Thestral pulling their carriage, he really couldn't help but be drawn to those creatures and to like them. He did look for Calderon, he was helping people load up like last year but they weren't on the last one so Scorpius supposed he'd have to wait to speak to him until they got onto the platform. He climbed into the carriage and realized his friends were watching the Thestral, he gestured for Maurice to join them as some Slytherins had barged their way into Corin's carriage which made the first year glower as it pulled away.

"What's up with them?" Maurice wondered jerking his head at the others before Calderon came over and got the Thestral to start moving.

"Still not used to them and why are you even here?" Rose said sounding increasingly angry as the three turned back round to face them.

"I told him too, Corin already left," Scorpius answered before Maurice could.

Rose shot the deaf boy a dark look but didn't say anything, she didn't have to really as Maurice didn't say anything else for the whole carriage journey and they mostly talked like he wasn't there, he may as well not have been because he let go his translator necklace and gazed ahead. Rose did most of the talking, she was sitting with Copper on the train but them on the carriages to be fair so took every opportunity to talk excitedly about Christmas. It was a much better atmosphere than last year and it helped take his mind of worrying, Michael's absence was noticed though. He hovered around the platform waiting for Calderon instead of boarding the train immediately, Rose promised to see them when the train stopped before heading off to find Copper while Abby and Albus went to find seats - it was cold outside - and... he wasn't sure where Maurice vanished too.

"Calderon!" Scorpius exclaimed when he noticed the former assistant finally arriving with the last carriage, rushing over to greet him and throwing his arms around him immediately.

"Hey Scor," Calderon offered as he pulled away, "I'm not going on the train this time, Ticcy is again but I'm not. Just making sure things are all set. Have a good Christmas."

"You too, and a good New Year."

"Here, I was going to owl this to you but since you're here," Calderon said as he pulled out a small package and handed it to him, "don't open it until Christmas though."

"Thank you," Scorpius told him, feeling both extremely honored to have gotten a present from Calderon and curious as to what it was, "you'll get yours by owl."

"You don't have to get me anything," Calderon waved it off and someone whistled, one of the porters loading things up, "best go see what that is. Take care, Scor."

"See you Calderon."


	42. II: Exchange

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Please don't say one of the shadow aurors will do something to Michael?_**  
_I can't really answer that but I wouldn't worry too much, there's only so much they'll risk with Calderon around_

* * *

It was the first time that Scorpius had actually sat on the Hogwarts Express with his group of friends, he realized as the Hogwarts Express came to a stop at Platform Nine and Three Quarters, it made him feel incredibly normal for once. The journey had gone quickly, mostly games of exploding snap and discussing holiday plans. Corin was over the moon with excitement as were Abby and Rose - before she went to sit with Copper anyway - as she was seeing her Granger grandparents that Christmas too, Albus seemed less enthusiastic at the prospect of James' friend being there and was worried his father might miss Christmas for work and Maurice didn't say a word the entire journey, generally everyone seemed to have forgotten he was even there but Scorpius noticed his hand on his translator necklace the entire time, his expression was as unhelpfully neutral as ever though.

Scorpius himself didn't say much about his plans, despite knowing the letters were - probably - no longer being monitored he still kept his letters to home short and without too much information or detail or questions, he hadn't asked about Christmas. In truth he wasn't bothered, plans and presents didn't matter compared to Varanian and trying to help the Scamander twins. They tried to hurry off the train as soon as it stopped to avoid the crush of students pouring out, he part managed to succeed as he wasn't as swamped as some.

He scanned the platform for his parents but it wasn't his parents he saw first, it was Maurice's father he noticed. His black hair was no longer wet and dripping, it was scruffier than Calderon's but neater than Potter's. He was staring at something unblinkingly with an unreadable expression and Scorpius followed his gaze to see that Orous was the target of his eyes, the albino seemed to have met his dad as some man was talking to him with a smile as he hugged Orous. And Roman Rivers was just watching him, it didn't exactly help his innocence cause. Maurice started to walk over to him, hand signing with Corin before Roman's arm shot out to grab his son's arm and yank him to him so much so that it looked like it hurt Maurice. Corin just gave him a dark look.

"We're going now, boy," Roman announced coolly regardless that Maurice didn't have his hand on his translator necklace, he led his son away without another word.

"Scorpius!" his mother called and Scorpius barely had time to look in her direction before being engulfed in a hug, "we're so glad to see you."

"Its only been a month and a bit," Scorpius mumbled, although he realized as he said it that it was probably more about the last Quidditch match than it was the length of time.

"Hey Al," Vern greeted his cousin nervously, "I'm getting picked up with you and dropped off at home so... yeah, do you know where Uncle Harry or Aunt Ginny or whoever is picking you up are?"

Albus rolled his eyes at his cousin and wished him a good Christmas as he went off with Vern to locate an adult, Abby and Corin followed suite and bade him farewell - both of whom insisted on hugging him. He would have liked to have said goodbye to Maurice, Molly, Rose and Professor Ashain but hadn't the chance with Maurice, couldn't see Molly or the professor and Rose seemed busy introducing Copper to her father and a woman with bushy brown hair - he assumed it was her mother - so Scorpius just allowed himself to be led away by his parents as they questioned him about how school was. He wondered why they asked him, he would only have to go through it all again to his grandmother when they got home anyway, it would be easier and less time-consuming if he only had to explain everything once. It was frustrating, didn't they realize it wasn't safe for them to be around each other? He could die and they could lose their souls like his grandfather. He couldn't sleep that night for worrying about them and spend most of the next day worrying too as he waited for Varanian to contact him.

"Have you thought about what subjects you're going to be choosing for your electives?" his father asked him at dinner the next day.

"Not really, we don't have to choose until Easter," Scorpius pointed out truthfully, he had too much on his mind to be thinking about menial things too far away.

"Well I wouldn't recommend Care of Magical Creatures for your own safety."

"I rather enjoyed Care of Magical Creatures, its a fascinating subject," his mother told him seriously and his father smirked.

"Well you're a Ravenclaw dear, you think all subjects are fascinating."

"Not _all_ subjects, not History of Magic and erm..." his mother trailed off and seemed to struggle to think of one and instead changed tactic, "there's nothing wrong with enjoying classes, Draco."

"I know, dear."

"I'll think about it more closer to the time," Scorpius interrupted, "can't we talk about something else? What day can I go into Diagon Alley to get my friend's Christmas presents?"

"Oh, you can't," his father told him becoming serious again, "after what happened last time... we just don't think its very safe. Instead you can write a list of who you want to buy for and what gift you want for them, one gift per person this year so your mother and I can be out of Diagon Alley as quickly as possible."

"You can't be serious," Scorpius stated in surprise but his parent' expressions were written in stone, "that's completely unfair! I need to be there, you don't know what there is unless you're there and only one present each? They'll think I stopped caring!"

"That's the way its got to be, we're sorry Scorpius but its for your own safety."

"We don't think Diagon Alley is safe for us either which is why we want to get in and out as soon as possible, its just we're adults who have more experience, more knowledge and are actually legally allowed to use magic if anything happen," his mother added and Scorpius nodded reluctantly, he still wasn't pleased but he understood their reasoning and didn't think they were likely to change their minds.

He didn't hear anything from Varanian all that night or the next morning either, the flash of gold from the ring on his finger kept reminding him of what he'd been determined to do. As he looked at it then though a thought crossed his mind, maybe Varanian just hadn't realized Scorpius was out of Hogwarts yet? He took out his wand and pressed the tip against the ring.

"Varanian?" Scorpius spoke aloud feeling almost stupid now they weren't practicing it together, what if it didn't work? What if Varanian didn't reply? What if Varanian couldn't reply because something had happened to- His thought was interrupted by a familiar heat feeling on his finger.

_Not now_, the words appeared clearly and Scorpius smiled despite himself that it still worked before feeling annoyed.

"Then when?"

_Later. Busy_, came Varanian's unhelpful reply but Scorpius supposed it was better than nothing. He just hoped Varanian would actually keep to it and reply.

"Scorpius, are you awake?" his mother's voice called from outside his door.

"Yes," Scorpius answered reluctantly, hoping she hadn't heard him talking to himself.

"Your father and I are going to Diagon Alley today, if you want anything for your friends and family then write your list now."

"Alright."

"Also breakfast is ready, we're having pancakes then going so be quick."

Scorpius struggled to think of gifts on the spot and still wasn't happy with his selection when he handed over the list to his parents so they could go, one thing didn't seem to be enough either as he'd asked for another charm - a 'C' for 'Captain' - for Molly's charm bracelet but that didn't seem like enough. He hoped his friends wouldn't be too bothered by the lack of presents, he'd have to make it up to them. His parents were actually gone most of the day after that, for the most part he spent it with his grandmother playing Wizard Chess and chatting about trivial things to pass the time. She seemed to be doing a bit better at least.

When his parents did get home it was late so they just had dinner and went to bed, saving the wrapping of the presents for the following day. It was during that time that Varanian contacted him, midday tomorrow they were set to meet on the outskirts of the Malfoy lands. Scorpius was so nervous that he barely slept, drifting in and out of dreams he couldn't remember that left waking in terror soaked in sweat. A part of his mind kept trying to get him to back out of it, he didn't _have_ to tell Varanian about his wrist or Orous after all and he didn't with a hundred percent certainty know that the Shadows were involved. He knew he would tell Varanian though, it was the right thing to do at the end of the day.

* * *

Hogwarts was a huge castle, sometimes it was easy to forget that when the corridors were full of students with their voices and footsteps echoing around even if you couldn't see them. You never forgot that over the holidays, Michael had noticed, the corridors seemed too wide and the ceilings too high. Too empty. The number of Aurors had diminished greatly and had the staff, four had left the same day as the students and others were leaving everyday once caught up on work or whatever reasons they had for their holidays being delayed. There was only one table in the Great Hall, Calderon thought it was stupid that Michael should sit at a table all by himself so joined the staff at meals and every meal there seemed to be less people there.

In fact there would only be four humans - ignoring Aurors - left in the castle at Christmas, since it was just Michael only the Headmaster- or Acting Headmaster in their case - and a healer were required to stay in Hogwarts for the holidays. Only one living professor was staying aside from that, making it just the four of them which was a lot less than last year. Michael was just glad that the professor staying wasn't Grant, not that he really had a right to complain about who was there, he didn't have to be there after all Albus and Jack had offered to let him stay for Christmas but he'd refused the both of them.

He felt like he had to, aside from the idea of spending Christmas with James and Carver being off-putting, the thought of imposing on the Potters after his father had offended Mrs Potter to the point she'd used magic on him and that it was partially his fault that James had gotten suspended just seemed wrong, he'd done enough without them having to let him stay with them for two weeks. And Jack... Jack just wouldn't show up, Michael didn't trust him and he couldn't risk it with his stepdad, Bob had made it perfectly clear what he would do to Michael and - even worse - his mother if he bothered them again before summer.

Michael was heading down to Potions to drop off an essay - thanks to Calderon he was given extra time to finish his assignments with his Dyslexia - whether Vipera was still there or not, the door to the classroom should at least be unlocked to leave it on her desk. He detoured only when he heard music, he was sure it was a song he recognized from his 'muggle' life and went to investigate. Calderon was the cause, the multicolored music notes hovering around him as he cartwheeled down the deserted corridor, his dog racing a long beside him.

"Um... What are you doing?" Michael questioned uncertainly, Calderon stopped when he saw him as did the music but the lights remained.

"Cartwheels," Calderon shrugged, "castle's pretty much empty so hardly any paperwork or people needing things so I'm taking the hour off and celebrating before something else comes along to chain me to the desk."

"By doing cartwheels?"

"I like moving. Why, how would you celebrate?"

"I... I don't know, cartwheel away," Michael admitted and motioned for Calderon to continue.

"Thank you," Calderon offered with a grin and a flourishing bow.

"Ah, there you are!" a voice interrupted before Calderon could continue, Michael turned to see Aubrey Rivers the Arithimancy professor coming over to them, Calderon rolled his eyes. Rivers eyes graced over Michael as he reached them, he didn't say anything but he didn't mask the disgust in his face. Michael had noticed it since losing his eye, it wasn't just Rivers who looked at him like that either, Michael hated it. That was another reason it was good to stay in Hogwarts, he didn't want Albus' family or Jack to look at him like that and the thought of his mother looking at him like that actually made him want to cry, "I was looking for you, you smart, powerful, talented, handsome, highly-esteemed and completely _not_ mad Ac-"

"What do you want now, Rivers?" Calderon interrupted tiredly, folding his arms and looking at Rivers with a an uncharacteristically stoic expression.

"Ah, so attentive and knowledgeable to the needs of your st-"

"Rivers."

"Well I was wondering if you would consider giving me a raise because its Christmas..."

Michael took that as his cue to leave as Rivers began a droning explanation about it being a nice thing to do at Christmas since he and Calderon were so 'close' and he admired Calderon, it was blatant sucking up and Calderon was plagued by the same request - or similar - at meal times, either that or Rivers hit on Vipera with equal success. Vipera had a rather sarcastic way of turning him down and Rivers seemed not to understand sarcasm or was simply worse at taking hints than Calderon was. He reached the Potions classroom, the door was already open and was slightly surprised to see Vipera was in fact still there, she did have a bag beside her but was scribbling at papers on her desk.

"Hello Professor," Michael said as he knocked on the inside of the door frame, she looked up and cast him a small smile, "brought you that essay on the Hair-Raising Potion."

"Thank you, Michael," Vipera told him and gestured for him to come over so he could hand it to her, she skimmed over it briefly with her intent green eyes before putting it down on her desk, "you know, one thing I find frustrating as a teacher is seeing students with a lot of potential who just won't try to succeed, one thing worse is seeing a student with a lot of potential who just can't succeed despite trying. You're clearly a bright boy, its a shame to see you unable to live up to your potential simply because Wizardkind aren't good for accommodating things like Dyslexia and I am unable to give you enough attention without neglecting the rest of the class."

"Its okay, I suck at pretty much subject not just Potions specifically so you shouldn't feel bad."

"Would you like to do better at Potions?" Vipera asked curiously, "I'm willing to give up some time a week to tutor you if you're interested, of course you'd have to give up free some time as well."

"That would be great," Michael agreed immediately, he would take all the help he could get if it meant not failing Potions. He doubted he'd ever be as good as Albus, Rose, Scorpius or Nott but any chance to do better at magic was welcome. Maybe if he did better than his crush would like him. _No, no she wouldn't_, he reminded himself firmly, look in a mirror for starters.

"Good then, we can work out the times when I get back as I'm leaving in about an hour. I'm spending Christmas with my brother and his family, you see," Vipera paused to gesture to her bag, "but will be back a few days before term restarts so we can talk then-"

"Are you still here?!" a voice snapped from the doorway, they looked over and saw one of the Aurors peering in, "you said an hour, an hour ago! We need to secure the room."

"Well this young man just gave me his paper to mark so I'm busy," Vipera pointed out, the Auror looked red-faced with rage and stalked away muttering angrily.

"You don't really have to mark it before you go," Michael offered to which Vipera gave a sly smile.

"I'm aware. Those people just keep hassling me to leave already and its extremely annoying so I'm taking my sweet time to get back at them."

"Isn't that slightly mean?"

"They started it. And what can I say? I am a Slytherin and you shouldn't rush a lady."

"Fair point. Happy holidays."

* * *

Scorpius had to force himself to eat at breakfast, he wasn't hungry for nerves but he was afraid of his parents getting suspicious if he didn't. They didn't think it was odd he wanted to go for a walk although advised he put on something warm, not be long and not go too far especially as it was Christmas Eve. The part of Scorpius' brain that wanted him to not go shriveled up in disappointment that his parents hadn't forbade him from leaving, not being able to get away wasn't backing out exactly. Wishing he could stamp on that piece of his brain, he trudged off to go meet Varanian. He arrived a few minutes early but it was barely two minutes later when he heard a pop, his wand was in his hand nervously as he spun to face the tawny haired former headmaster and relaxed.

"Not too bad reflexes, although perhaps a bit rusty from when I last saw you," Varanian commented offering out his hand.

"Nice to see you too," Scorpius retorted sarcastically as he took the fugitive's hand, although he was at least pleased that Varanian was still alive. Varanian didn't say anything about it though as he apparated them to outside his hideout before they went inside and retreated back down to the basement, "so we need to talk."

"I know, I'll go first. I have actually found out some things," Varanian began seriously gesturing for Scorpius to sit on the bed which he did, "about the hierarchy of the Shadows, at the top is the Shadow Master followed by his three... well I call them Lieutenants who are in charge now the Shadow Master is incapacitated. One is focused solely on carrying out the Shadow attacks and is the one the Shadow Aurors answer to, I don't know who he is yet but I do know he is definitely undercover in the Ministry in a position of power - less than Minister, more than run of the mill Auror - and is also the youngest of the trio. The other two are responsible for the rest, they take it in turns managing the Shadows and controlling the Specters because unlike the Shadow Master, they aren't good enough at controlling Specters to do both. These two are older, have been with he Shadow Master since the beginning and at least one of them is a former Death Eater.

"After that the hierarchy is less set in stone but there are Shadows that have leadership roles but still answer to the Lieutenants - mostly the elder two because the younger is busy undercover - and seem to have kind of areas they're in charge of, for example Roland Seraph is sort of responsible for kind of training and choosing people for missions because he knows the Shadows' skill sets, Greyback is sort of a Leader for attacks or at least makes sure they are carried out as the undercover Lieutenant wants, there is another Leader sort of responsible for torture and other things who is also a former Death Eater - not sure which one - and there are at least two other sort of Leaders but I'm not sure who they are or what they do. Beneath the Leaders are the Shadows who willingly are Shadows and the Shadows who are coerced."

"What do you mean by coerced?"

"I mean people who have loved ones threatened or kidnapped so they'll help or have their own lives threatened or souls, for the long term coerced ones they are possessed by Specters. Like your grandfather, the Specter isn't controlling them so no black eyes but is there to take their soul if they disobey. Now, there are Shadows that have infiltrated the Ministry - and by infiltrated I mean probably were already in their positions and just joined the Shadows, this is the Ministry we're talking about - although I'm not sure how widespread the corruption is or who they are as they're very protective of their identities but there is at least two and even those non-Shadows could be influenced by the Shadows without realizing they're playing into the Shadows hands, the Minister for Magic is definitely not a Shadow but can't speak for the rest. Aside from Ellisar, there's at least four other Shadow Aurors but I've only identified two of them. I've been working on a spell to detect the corrupted wands they use, if I can nail that then identifying them will be so much easier.

"And about Hogwarts, one of the teachers _is_ a Shadow who is also a sort of Leader but I don't think its Grant. I'm not sure how but the attackers escaped Marius'... power wrath thing that he does, except for the one that died obviously and they've been hiding out in the castle or the grounds because they can't leave Hogwarts without Marius knowing it because of some kind of protection he put in place. They and the Shadow Aurors are being coordinated by the teacher to keep an eye on you and Marius and some other persons of interest, I don't know how or who. The recent attempt on your life is a sign of the unrest in the ranks, its been six months since the Shadow Master was put into a coma and they're scared, they're getting more desperate and unruly. From what I hear, the Shadow Master can't survive forever in this coma. If he dies their movement is finished, the others can't keep control forever."

"Well that's good at least but why don't you think its Grant? It has to be him, he hates me," Scorpius pointed out and Varanian looked away from him.

"Well... Because I did some digging and... I think Grant's reason for hating you has nothing to do with the Shadows, its possible he is still one but hating you isn't a good reason to suspect him."

"Why does he hate me then?"

"I don't think its important."

"I want to know."

"No you don't."

"Tell me, Varanian!" Scorpius demanded irritably and Varanian looked at him expressionlessly at the sound of his name, "I have a right to know!"

"Your grandfather murdered his wife," Varanian told him after a minute of hesitation and Scorpius felt as though he'd been physically slapped in the face but Varanian continued nonetheless, "as part of his immunity and switching sides he had to give as much information to the Ministry as possible, names of Death Eaters and their crimes as well as his own crimes which he was pardoned for. One of those crimes was killing Grant's wife, she saw something she shouldn't of and your grandfather was charged with taking her out. He killed her. And then got away with it. Grant has never been happy with this, he launched petition after petition for the immunity to be revoked and his wife to get justice but the Ministry never budged, I guess eventually he gave up. I think he hates you for the crimes of your grandfather, not for anything you've actually done."

Scorpius just sat in silence for a moment, digesting the new information. His grandfather had killed someone as a Death Eater, killed an innocent woman just for seeing something. At the back of his mind he knew his grandfather had killed someone, the Shadow Master had something to that effect but he'd still always thought it had been justified. Not someone innocent. But then what could he expect? If his grandfather was capable of torturing Calderon as an innocent child then why not killing an innocent woman?

"Did... Did he kill anyone else?" Scorpius asked so quietly that he half-hoped Varanian hadn't heard him but he wanted to know.

"Yes."

Scorpius fell silent again. His grandfather had killed others, probably just as innocent. He hadn't been close to his grandfather when he was alive but after death, Scorpius had stopped seeing anything beyond his grandfather's sacrifice, forgotten about the things he had to have done. It was no wonder Grant hated him, how many other people had relatives killed by his family? How many of the people that disliked him for being a Malfoy disliked him because they had personally wronged them? He couldn't blame them. If the Shadow Master had relatives then he wouldn't take too kindly to them either.

"It doesn't change anything," Scorpius said to himself more so than Varanian, he couldn't bring himself to ask how many others and who, "he gave up his soul to save our lives, to stop the Shadow Master, to do something good. He gave up his soul to do the right thing, that's what matters."

"I know."

"Did my grandmother or father do anything like that?"

"According to the Ministry neither of them did... But your grandmother's a gray soul according to the Shadows, they were complaining about it stopping them from risking attacking you at home. I don't know who or why or how."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded, feeling somewhat relieved as well as concerned. Had his grandmother's kill(s) been justified? He shook his head of it, it didn't matter. His grandfather had made up for what he'd done as far as he was concerned, he'd gotten his redemption even though Scorpius still hated the things he'd done. There were things Scorpius hated that he'd done, he hoped his grandfather had felt bad about some of it too. It was time for Scorpius to make up for one of his own if he could.


	43. II: Search and Rescue

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter and SDF for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** I upped the rating to M just to be on the safe side, you have been warned_

**_Questions:_**

**_So one of the shadows/leader etc is a teacher that has to remain at the castle, so one of them is the professor that is staying behind?_**  
_No s/he is not the professor staying behind (Trelawny is), s/he is leaving for a few days to report in person to Rabastan and Brutus as well as to not seem weird for staying when most are going (Trelawny, Hagrid and Calderon are really the only ones who live there permanently and have no outside home)_

**_Was it the quills that write into your skin?_**  
_Yep, blood quills_

* * *

"Varanian... You know how I was... abducted," Scorpius began awkwardly staring at the ground nervously, "two weeks before my tenth birthday."

"Yeah," Varanian said slowly.

"And last year there was another boy who went missing, also two weeks before his tenth birthday."

"I heard."

"And this year the Scamander twins went missing, also two weeks before their tenth birthday."

"I also heard."

"Do you think they're connected?" Scorpius asked, trying to work up the courage to talk about it but he could barely hear his voice over the pounding of his heart, it felt like it was about to explode and a part of him hoped it would so he would be dead and not have to talk about it.

"Its a plausible possibility," Varanian said equally slowly, sounding puzzled by where Scorpius was going with it, "the Aurors think so, Potter's a family friend of the Scamanders so finding them also ranks high on the list of priorities. I don't know anything about it though."

"I do... And I think its something to do with the Shadows," Scorpius continued with a gulp, he curled his hands into fists on the bed and stared unblinkingly at the ground, he couldn't bring himself to look up at Varanian as he told him everything he'd fought so hard to keep a secret. He told him about the dreams of the boy, the voice of that same boy talking to him, the severing of the connection, he told him about the scar on his wrist, about not knowing how he got it, about the pain, about the fire, about the bruising that wasn't bruising and he told him about what he'd realized about Orous, what Orous had said, about Orous' wrist being the same., he even told him about killing Marvin and being saved by the same guy with the deformed hands. He told him everything, once he got started the words just started tumbling out followed by the tears, he only noticed that when he stopped speaking and realized he was crying, he wasn't sure when he'd started but the lump in his throat got his tongue all tied up when he tried to continue.

"Its okay," Varanian offered in awkward but kind tone that differed from his usual tone and Scorpius felt a hand patting his shoulder in an equally awkward way as if Varanian was attempting to comfort him. That thought actually made him stop crying, the man he'd spent the previous year hating and wishing all kinds of ill-fortunate on was trying to make him feel better. It was almost laughable.

"It can't ever be okay," Scorpius told him quietly.

"I know. Its just a lie people use when they're trying to be comforting, take it."

"You're a jerk," Scorpius pointed out as he wiped his eyes, it made him recall what Varanian had told him about the scars being too sensitive to touch.

"I know it," Varanian agreed readily and Scorpius wiped his eyes harder, feeling ashamed of crying in front of him.

"Thank you," Scorpius said taking a deep breath, "so I wanted to try and save the Scamander boys from the Shadows but I need your help and I'm not sure where to start, I mean if they used the same muggles and the same house for Orous and I so it seems likely they'd use the same again but I don't know where that is."

"Well first, would they use the same people if two of them are dead or is there more?"

"Yes, Linden."

"Okay then its worth checking out. Did you ever see the house from the outside?"

"Yeah but I don't know where it is."

"It doesn't matter, if I can get a clear enough picture of it in my head then I can apparate there."

"So you'll help?" Scorpius wondered hopefully looking up at Varanian.

"Of course, we'll do this now and worry about what the hell the Shadows are doing to your wrist later. Now I can do Legilimancy, I'm not very good at it but I should be able to do enough to see your memory of what the house looks like then apparate there and check it out," Varanian explained and looked at him with a flicker of uncertainty in his silvery eyes, "if you're up for that, you need to be focusing on the memory because it reads the memories at the surface of your mind."

"I'll do it," Scorpius agreed standing up nervously, "so what do I do? Just close my eyes and think about it?"

"Yeah," Varanian nodded and withdraw his wand, "concentrate on that house as much as you can, I'd rather only do this once."

"Will it hurt?"

"No but you'll probably be overwhelmed by the memory for a minute, very vividly which can be a little uncomfortable."

"Okay," Scorpius said with a nervous gulp, having your mind read wasn't something he'd ever imagined wanting done and really he wasn't keen on it but if it would help the Scamander twins then he had to try it, he'd just told Varanian his secrets anyway. He closed his eyes and thought of that horrible house.

"Are you ready?"

Scorpius nodded without opening his eyes, concentrating on the house he usually tried so hard not to think about because he wanted Varanian to see it, despite that he was still crystal clear in his mind. He heard Varanian muttering a spell and it all happened so fast, his wrist flared up in searing pain and he cried out, he felt rather than saw the explosion of magic that threw him back against the painfully solid wall and then he was knocked into unconscious.

* * *

_"Oh well I didn't realize," Atticus admitted guiltily as he looked at the ground, "I'm sorry, Brutus, I've been busy."_

_"Too busy to remember Christmas, does family really mean nothing to you?!" Brutus snapped at him angrily, trying not to feel like a hypocrite as he'd forgotten it too but then he didn't feel too bad as he knew he loved his family even if he'd forgotten Christmas whereas he really had no idea what was going on in his brother's head._

_"Of course family matters to me! But... I really just didn't realize, the days just kind of run together, I thought I still had time."_

_"Well you don't have time! Not when you spend every waking second working, you're risking your life to please a dead woman who didn't give a damn about you-"_

_"Just because your mother was a heartless bitch, it doesn't mean that my mother was!" Atticus interrupted angrily._

_"She let Death Eaters torture you instead of giving up a bunch of filthy mudbloods!"_

_"And she was right to do it! Sometimes sacrifice is necessary for the greater good, if she'd told the Death Eaters what they wanted so they wouldn't hurt us then they would have killed those people - and yes people, their lineage doesn't stop them being people! - saving thirty odd people was more important that us, its basic math. I burned my arm saving those two Aurors and I would do it again in a heartbeat, sacrifice is necessary sometimes."_

_"See how she warped your mind! Its not justifiable! So what, if Death Eaters tortured your son then you'd let him suffer and die rather than giving up some mudbloods?!" Brutus demanded furiously but to his surprise Atticus laughed._

_"Well that's a stupid question because I'm never having kids," Atticus pointed out and Brutus blinked in shock, his anger forgotten by this revelation, "so I never would have to choose."_

_"You don't want kids when you're older?"_

_"Of course not, I'm not a father-type person, I wouldn't know what to do with little ones and really it looks exhausting running around after them anyway," Atticus explained and tilted his head to one side curiously, "why? Do you want kids when you're older?"_

_"No," Brutus lied quickly, "I was just making a point. Most people are jerks and there's not a lot of people you care about, their lives are more valuable than other people."_

_"I'm not saying they're not valuable, I'm just saying that sometimes you can't be selfish when there's more at stake. We'll just have to agree to disagree on that one, I'm afraid. Please, I don't want to fight with you."_

_"Alright," Brutus agreed reluctantly, he didn't want to fight either, he just wanted Atticus to be safe. He pulled his brother into a hug, "Merry Christmas, Atty."_

_"Merry Christmas, Bruti."_

_"I told you never to call me that," Brutus grumbled as he pulled away from his smirking brother._

_"Well it is Christmas apparently so let's grab father, raid the liquor stores and drink until my arm doesn't hurt anymore and you can see the imaginary presents I'll get you tomorrow," Atticus offered to which Brutus laughed._

_"Good plan! And maybe if father's drunk we can get him to eat food he didn't catch."_

* * *

Scorpius could feel the bruises from the wall and cringed slightly as he opened his eyes, finding he was lying on the cool concrete. He saw Varanian on the opposite side of the room, lying in a similarly uncomfortable sprawled position to Scorpius as if he too had been flung into the wall that tossed him there. Scorpius got to his feet and staggered over to Varanian and kneeling beside him, he was breathing but his eyes were closed and he had to be unconscious because he'd never seen Varanian looked so unstressed and at peace, the strain on his face was gone. Scorpius almost felt bad for having to wake him, the shadows beneath Varanian's eyes indicated he could probably use the rest. Then again, the concrete floor and sleeping from being knocked out probably wasn't the healthiest thing in the world.

"Varanian?" Scorpius whispered gently reaching out to shake Varanian's hand but got no reaction so he tried being more forceful, "Varanian? Varanian!"

Varanian flinched away from his hand and his head shot up, he winced as his eyes fluttered open, blinking rapidly and breathing heavily as he looked around in confusion. His head lolled and for a second Scorpius thought it would just drop to the ground and he'd sink back into oblivion, Varanian seemed to hold on to consciousness though as he got himself into a sitting position, cringing at the movement and leaned back against the wall for support.

"What happened?" Scorpius asked worriedly.

"I don't know," Varanian answered putting a hand over his eyes, "I tried to read your mind and then there was light and I was thrown against the wall. Where is my wand?"

"Err... here," Scorpius told him as he scanned around and saw it lying a few feet away, he retrieved it and handed it to Varanian.

"How long was I out?"

"I don't know, I was knocked out too. I only just came too."

"Okay," Varanian sighed and pulled a battered pocket watch out of the inside of his jacket, flipping it open to peer at it, "its eight... In the morning."

"We were unconscious for a long time," Scorpius stated slowly in surprise, realizing his family would be beside themselves with worry but there were more important things on his mind, the Scamander family had been suffering for a lot longer, "did you see the memory at least?"

"I think so, yeah. I'll apparate you back home then go straight there."

"No!" Scorpius snapped louder and harsher than he'd intended and Varanian looked slightly surprised, "I... I want to go, I want to help."

"You've helped already, I can take of it. They may not even be there."

"No, Varanian, I have to be there, I have to help them."

"I understand that you want to help but this is going back to somewhere with bad memories and having to face one of the men who hurt you, do you honestly think you can handle that?" Varanian told him seriously, "you were terrified of being anywhere with muggles alone for a short period of time."

"Aren't you the one who says to face your fears? And I did go alone amongst muggles for a bit, I did face my fear before, I'm never going to stop being afraid if I don't face it. I need to do this, I didn't help Orous last year because I couldn't face the truth and maybe if I had these twins wouldn't have been taken at all, I know this doesn't make up for it but I still have to try, I still have to help in any way I can," Scorpius explained truthfully but Varanian's expression refused to give anything away, "two pairs of eyes is better than one and I know the place, I know where they'd be and I know what Linden looks like. Please Varanian, I can do this, I know I can... I'm a Gryffindor and... well we're brave aren't we? I can handle it... And the more time we spend arguing over it the more time those boys are suffering."

"Okay," Varanian agreed with a sigh, "but first we're going to refresh your memory on what I taught you, don't be afraid to use magic in self defense and if the Ministry notices then just say you were kidnapped again and were protecting yourself. And if we get there and you freeze up or something then I'm taking you straight back, no arguments, no questions. Do you understand?"

"Yes."

They ran through the exercises that Varanian had taught him before, Scorpius still wasn't perfect at them and Varanian complained he was rusty but not as bad as he'd thought Scorpius would be - which Scorpius decided to take as a compliment - before heading out. If Scorpius thought his heart had been beating hard before, it was nothing compared to then, he felt like it had moved to his brain and was trying to break its way out of his skull to run away. He didn't feel like running away himself though or shying away, it was something he had to do. He just hoped the twins wouldn't be too badly hurt or have had the magic from their souls taken and put back like Orous had.

"Are you still okay to go through with this?" Varanian asked him as they reached the place Varanian usually apparated them from or to, "its okay if you've changed your mind, there's no shame or cowardice in it."

"No, I'm okay," Scorpius told him firmly and held out his hand, waiting for Varanian to disapparate with him.

Varanian's expression remained unreadable but he took Scorpius' hand a second later, then came the sensation of being squeezed into a tube and they were there. Standing outside of the place of Scorpius' nightmares, it was such a plain house, nothing to draw attention to it anymore than any of the other houses on the street but Scorpius knew different. Varanian glanced at him as if gauging his reaction but Scorpius' expression was as unreadable as the fugitive's and they calmly approached the door, Varanian rang the bell but Scorpius noticed his wand was already out in his free hand. Scorpius followed suite.

It seemed so unbelievably fast, Linden must already have been downstairs because the door opened quickly, Linden didn't have time to speak or even blink before he was thrown backwards into the corridor. Varanian had his wand trained on him and entered wordlessly, flicking it as he went and causing ropes to bind the old man's hands behind his back to stop him from running away. Scorpius scurried in after and closed the door behind them, afraid of people in the street seeing.

"What is the meaning of this?!" Linden demanded sounding almost angry but his eyes were wide with fear before he spotted Scorpius, recognition glimmered in them and a sick smile drifted on his face, "you're looking good. Its so great to see you again, I missed you my boy."

"Don't speak to him," Varanian growled and flicked his wand again, there was a loud crack and Linden's leg seemed to snap in the wrong direction, he howled with pain and Scorpius found himself extremely unsympathetic, "where's the twins?"

"You broke my leg!" Linden screeched blinking back tears, "make it better! I know magic can do that! It hurts!"

"Good."

"Its not good for me!" Linden wailed and Varanian flicked his wand again, Linden's screamed as his other leg jerked in the wrong direction, "for god's sake stop! What did I ever do to you?!"

"Everything," Scorpius snapped forcing away the memories and Linden looked at him again, Varanian must have flicked his wand again because there was another crack and Linden screamed again.

"Tell us about the twins or I'll just keep breaking bones," Varanian told him threateningly and Linden recoiled fearfully.

"I'm not a bad person, you know, it not my fault, how could anyone resist a deal with free children?" Linden wondered and Varanian flicked his wand again, causing another crack and another scream from Linden, tears were spilling from his eyes by then, "please, I can't tell you anything or they'll kill me! I don't want to die!"

"If you don't tell _me_ anything then _I'll_ kill you after I'm done torturing you," Varanian promised coldly and Linden quivered fearfully, Varanian went to move his wand again.

"Okay, okay, I'll talk!" Linden screeched desperately, "just stop, please, stop. My middle son was a wizard so I know about all the magic stuff, out of the blue these people came to me and offered me a deal."

"The Shadows?" Scorpius guessed.

"Is that what they're called? I think their other name is more fitting but alright, whatever you want, Shadows then. They offered a deal where they help us kidnap children and keep them prisoner, they just have to be suffering."

"What the fuck kind of sick deal is that?" Varanian wondered with a look of disgust.

"Its because of those things, the Specters that hide in the shadows, watching, waiting... They feed off pain and suffering or they need it or something but the Master they're bound to isn't in pain or suffering so the Master has to satisfy them somehow, the Master binds themselves to someone by doing something to their wrist then lets them suffer so the Specters are happy but the Master stays in control, the children don't even notice or something like that. They experiment with different ways of doing it, the last three years its been with children - specifically twins - they want them released to test other ways of using the connections. Except for you, you don't have a twin although I wish you did, you were chosen to make some relative sell their soul to save you."

"My grandfather sold his soul to save me?" Scorpius repeated and despite himself felt tears pricking his eyes.

"Or something like that," Linden shrugged awkwardly and shot Varanian a worried glance as if afraid that answer wasn't satisfying enough, Scorpius had to push aside his guilt at his grandfather selling his soul for him to focus on something else and his concerns about the revelations on his wrist.

"Orous has a twin?"

"Yes. I never laid a hand on him though, never saw him, he was already bound and suffers another way."

"So where are the Scamander twins?" Varanian questioned, his wand was still trained steadily on Linden.

"I-I only have one of them, because I'm the only one left they didn't think it was safe to leave them both with me so one was off somewhere else and one is with me. They just swapped them last night, this kid hasn't even woken up yet."

"Where do they keep the other boy?"

"I don't know," Linden cried and Varanian flicked his wrist again, there was another crack and another shriek from Linden who squeezed his eyes shut against the pain, "I swear I don't know! _I swear!_ I'm running out of bones to break, please stop, please."

"Is the one boy upstairs?" Scorpius asked quietly and Linden nodded without opening his eyes.

"And that's all I know, just heal me now please and let me go."

"No," Varanian stated coldly, "we're going upstairs to get the boy and when we get back down, I want names and descriptions of every Shadow member you've had contact with, information equals healing so think about that. Come on."

"This way," Scorpius offered, grateful to be away from Linden as he led Varanian upstairs, passing by the rooms he recalled Orous running past. The bad memories felt like insects crawling across his skin trying to get in but he couldn't let them, he had to be strong, "so what are you going to do with Linden?"

"Heal him and hand him over to the authorities so he can punished for his crimes."

"Really?"

"I don't like torturing him regardless of what he did, plus him being able to walk makes it easier to hand him over."

"What if Shadow Aurors kill him?"

"What if they do? You're not concerned for his life?"

"No," Scorpius admitted truthfully.

"Are you still okay?" Varanian asked and Scorpius nodded, he was okay if he didn't think about it. He noticed that Varanian looked almost ill though.

"Are you?"

"Just never tortured anyone before," Varanian pointed out quietly as Scorpius stopped them at the door to his prison, it was predictably locked but Varanian seemed aware of _Alohomora_.

Scorpius shuddered at the room, he'd hoped against hope he would never have to step foot in it again but there he was willingly entering. He was scared, he glanced at Varanian just to make sure he was still by his side and gripped his wand tightly just to make sure it was still there. It looked almost exactly the same as from his memories and his dreams of Orous there, the only difference was it was slightly more tidy and there was a different boy handcuffed to the bed.

Scorpius recognized him vaguely from the memorial in May, his hair was really a dirty blond then but he didn't look as bad as Scorpius had thought in truth, his clothes looked dirty but he didn't seem visibly injured or starved for food, Michael looked worse than he did when he returned to Hogwarts after the summer. He seemed to be sleeping as they approached him, Varanian flicked his wand and the handcuffs unlocked and fell off, hitting the ground with a clunk and Scorpius saw the same scar on his wrist that he and Orous bore. It was then that the boy's amber eyes flicked open sleepily.

"What's going on?" the boy asked with a yawn.

"We're here to take you home," Varanian said gently but the boy just looked dazed before he smiled as he sat up.

"That sounds nice. Who are you?"

"My name's Pip, what's your name?"

"Lysander," the boy offered still sounding half asleep, "that's a nice name, Pip, your eyes are the same color as my mama's, did you know that?"

"No I didn't, come on now," Varanian told him and Lysander nodded as he went to stand, staggering for a moment before falling forwards, Varanian caught him though but Lysander remained leaning against him with his eyes closed, a smile still on his face, "come on, Lysander, you can sleep when you're away from here, alright?"

"I'm really tired, they gave me sleepy juice because they were moving me to a different place... Selwyn said I could see my brother, can you see my brother, Pip? He looks just like me."

"Come on, stay awake, we have to go and get you home."

"I'm sorry, Pip, my eyes don't want to stay open and my legs don't want to work."

"How about I carry you then?"

"Why not just apparate him now?" Scorpius asked in a whisper.

"This place probably has anti-apparition wards," Varanian whispered back and opened his mouth for further explanation, only to be interrupted by the sound of Linden screaming, he exchanged a fearful look with Varanian's concerned one.

"Okay," Lysander agreed drowsily and Varanian scooped him up wordlessly before rushing out, Scorpius on his heels as they moved as fast as Varanian dared with the ten year old in his arms.

Linden was dead by the time they got back downstairs. His broken body no longer breathing, his heart no longer beating. Scorpius tried to feel sympathy, he really did but the best he could muster was sadness over not hearing the names and descriptions of Shadow members. Varanian just muttered something about going and continued on to the door with Scorpius at a faster pace, Scorpius realized it was probably because both Varanian's arms were occupied holding Lysander which meant using his wand would be difficult. Scorpius kept his very ready and kept his eyes very alert, there was no sign of who had killed Linden though.

As soon as they got outside Scorpius grabbed Varanian's arm and he apparated them away, Scorpius recognized the street as the one leading to St Mungo's. There was a bench outside that Scorpius took to wait on while Varanian shifted his appearance and slipped inside to drop off Lysander, Scorpius wasn't sure that Lysander was still awake as he hadn't reacted to being side-along apparated. It was only after Varanian left him alone that the weight of his failure crashed down on him, Lysander's brother was still out there.


	44. II: Christmas Gloom

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, SDF and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Okay so I had to split this chapter with this and the next, it jumps point of views every break because I just wanted to get in things happening at different people's homes for Christmas and I tried to go pretty much chronologically in the order of events so um... not sure whether people will like it or not_

* * *

It was strange being back in his own bed after spending four months in the Hogwarts Hufflepuff dormitory, Vern was usually the first one up - with Orous - and the first one to go to sleep - because he needed to be up early with Orous - meaning there was always sound. You were aware of the sound of them breathing or shifting in their sleep, Chad had a habit of talking in his sleep rather loudly as well and Orous was frequently plagued by nightmares that woke the others - minus Chad who was an unusually heavy sleeper - up as well. But at home it was just him alone in his silent little room.

Vern had been taking advantage of the lie ins he never got to have at Hogwarts during the holidays but overall he actually found himself missing the school and his friends, which he'd never thought possible when he first received his Hogwarts acceptance letter. In fact he'd cried his eyes out when he read it, he hadn't wanted to be a wizard, it was a Potter thing not a Dursley thing, Dursleys were normal. He'd suspected it before, strange things happened around him sometimes but he always managed to cover it up or blame it on a Potter, he'd thought even if he was magical that hiding it would mean no one would ever find out. But no, in fact according to Corin there was a book at Hogwarts that recorded the names of all magical children born in England and unless they died before eleven they would be sent an acceptance letter so he'd been doomed since birth.

Hogwarts itself wasn't so bad, or at least not as bad as he thought. The practical lessons were the worst, using his wand scared him in honesty, being capable of doing things like that was frightening and whenever he succeeded it scared him even more but the non-wand lessons he liked. Potions, Herbology and Astronomy he enjoyed, History of Magic wasn't the most interesting but preferred it over the wand-using subjects. Flying had terrified him at first but the more lessons he had, the more he liked it and Quidditch was just amazing to watch. Except when Scorpius had nearly died, that was bad. James and his friends tormented him daily which he also hated but he just did his best to ignore it, he didn't want to get his cousin into trouble after all.

He woke up on Christmas morning in a good mood though, he spared a few moments to mentally wish his friends could have a good Christmas - especially Orous, the poor boy could use something to cheer him up and Michael, because he was all alone - before getting up. Everyone else seemed to have already woken up but they were still in pajamas, looked half-asleep and from the sounds of the kettle boiling, Vern thought they weren't long awake. He rubbed his eyes sleepily as he came down the soft carpeted steps, it gave him a good view of the living room where the assorted Dursleys were gathered.

His grandma Petunia was staying with them over Christmas and she had taken up her resident position in the pink armchair in front of the fire in a pink nightgown to match, his dad seemed to have her around as much as possible since Vern's grandpa and namesake Vernon had passed away. His parents must have been in the kitchen but his siblings were gathered, there were three Dursley children and Vern was the youngest of the lot. His brother was the eldest was Malcolm, a year older than James, he had blonde hair like their dad only his was long as apparently it was cool, he was tall and lanky although a lot of that stemmed from his long neck. His sister, Daisy, was in the middle and the same age as James, she was chubby - although you'd die if you pointed that out to her - with blonde hair and watery blue eyes that were engrossed in her phone.

"Happy Christmas, son!" his dad greeted him brightly as he came out of the kitchen, Vern smiled as his dad absorbed him into a hug, his dad was a big man, not fat but muscled as he was a boxer by trade.

"Happy Christmas, Dad," Vern echoed as his dad pulled away and ruffled his hair while his mother, Millicent Dursley, came out of the kitchen with a tray of drinks.

She was a lanky woman with sharp sapphire eyes like her eldest son and the stringy brown hair that Vern alone had inherited, she eyed Vern fearfully and he felt his heart sink a little. His mum had always found magic terrifying, he knew she dreaded interaction with the Potters and had actually passed out one time when James had been showing them Exploding Snap. Ever since Vern had gotten the letter, she'd looked at him with the same fear in her eyes and barely interacted with him at all, it was almost like she was avoiding him. He wished she wouldn't, he was still the same person he had been before, he didn't understand why she treated him different.

"Great _It's_ awake, can we open our presents now?" Malcolm asked with a strange smirk and his sister's eyes shot up from up from the phone, Malcolm had always been teasing but since Vern got the Hogwarts letter it had been even worse and his sister had joined in.

"Yes, Daddy, can we please?" Daisy pleaded putting the phone away, their dad looked surprised but pleased as he smiled, usually it was a struggle to get her to tear her eyes away from it.

"Of course, have at it, I'll get the camcorder," their Dad agreed brightly and nodded to the towering tree that was dwarfing Grandma Petunia, beneath which was the hoard of Christmas presents.

His siblings dived at the tree and Vern joined them as the process of giving out presents began, some for Grandma Petunia, some for Mum, some for Dad, an awful lot for Malcolm, even more for Daisy and... where were Vern's? He frowned in confusion as he looked under the empty tree, the adults also looked puzzled while his brother and sister seemed to be having trouble fighting off laughter.

"Where's my presents?" Vern wondered, he wasn't trying to sound selfish but it was strange.

"Shouldn't you be able to magic them up, wizard boy?" Daisy asked him.

"Mummy and Daddy didn't get you any because you're a freak," Malcolm added acidly.

"That's not true!" their Dad protested, "where are your brother's presents?"

"I don't know," Malcolm smirked.

"Malcolm!"

"He really doesn't know! We put them in the trash _yesterday_... could be anywhere by now," Daisy explained and their Dad looked too stunned for words while Malcolm burst out laughing.

"You threw out my presents?" Vern repeated in shock.

"Serves you right for being a magical freak."

"Its just a shame we can't throw you out in the trash too," Malcolm pointed out darkly and Vern couldn't stop the tears from spilling from his eyes as he staggered to his feet.

"Malcolm!" his Dad yelled furiously but Malcolm just cast him a 'what-did-I-do?' look, "I-"

"I didn't ask to be wizard!" Vern interrupted tearfully, "I was just born with it and its not my fault I was born! And... And magic isn't even that bad, at least some of them are nicer than you!"

Vern didn't wait for a reply or to see what happened, he just ran upstairs to his room, slamming the door and throwing himself down onto his bed as he sobbed. His siblings hated him for being a wizard, his cousins hated him for being a Dursley, what did they expect from him?! He was crying so hard he didn't even hear his dad come in, not until he felt himself scooped up in his dad's protective arms, he buried his head in his dad's chest and cried while his dad stroked his hair gently. Usually his mum was the one who comforted them when they were upset, he thought she must really hate him to not be there.

"Come on, Vern, its okay," his Dad told him soothingly, "we're not opening any presents until we get you yours, you can have twice as many as Malcolm and Daisy, both of whom are grounded for the rest of the year. And you do have some presents, you got some in the mail from people with names I can't pronounce."

"I-Its n-not about the pre-presents," Vern pointed out quietly, trying to speak through his tears, "I d-don't w-want my f-family to... to... to h-hate me."

"Your family doesn't hate you."

"Y-Yes they do, M-Malcom and Daisy and Mummy and Gr-Grandma Petunia and you and if Grandpa Vern-Vernon was still alive then h-he would hate me too."

"Now that's not true," his Dad protested as he hugged him closer, "you're my son and I love you, so does everyone else. I'd be lying if I said that I've had the best experiences with magic but that in itself isn't a bad thing, I wasn't a very nice person to Uncle Harry when I was younger, I wasn't a very nice person in general but an experience with magic made me realize the kind of person I was and I've tried to be a better man than I was but too much had happened to ever really be close and I think your relationship with your cousins suffers because of that but that doesn't make them or magic bad. Honestly I think your brother and sister are just jealous of magic, you already had magic and I think that's why you never disliked the Potters like they do, they're just jealous that you born with something they can never have, you're part of a world they can never even see and nothing can change that. Your Grandma Petunia actually volunteered to talk to them, I think she understands what its like to be jealous of a magical sibling even if she would never admit but she wouldn't have done that if she didn't care about you you. It'll be okay, Vern, I promise."

"What about Mummy?" Vern asked weakly but his father's speech had stopped his tears, his eyes were stinging from them though.

"She's just surprised, I don't think she ever imagined having a wizard son when I first told her about my cousin being a wizard. She'll come around, it just takes her time, she didn't speak to me for two months when she first found out about magic but love conquers all. Don't feel bad about who you are because I'm so proud of you, so proud."

"I love you, Dad."

* * *

Michael woke up to his empty dormitory to the pile of presents at the end of his bed, despite spending Christmas alone in Hogwarts the previous year and that year he'd actually gotten more presents than he had since before his great-grandmother died, with her gone their financial situation had crumbled with his mother being too sick to work. It hadn't mattered though, just having his mother still alive was the only thing he wanted.

Last year it had been mostly gifts from Scorpius but that year there was more of a variety, a book on Quidditch from Abby, the most recent addition of a book on healing magic from Scorpius, sweets from Albus and Rose, satin wizard robes from Corin, a figurine of a lion from Vern, his own Wizard Chess Set from Orous and surprisingly he'd also gotten a leather bound notebook with his initials stitched on the front from Maurice, a single real wizard Galleon from Jack and a beautiful knitted sweater of a Gryffindor lion from Albus and Rose's grandmother. He just wished he could afford to get anyone anything but he truly had no money, except the Galleon he'd gotten from Jack. It was only when he'd got through all the gifts that he noticed a blue envelope beneath it all.

He blinked in surprise and picked it up tenderly, knowing who it was from before he'd even seen the words on the front, his mother was the only person who would write on blue paper because it was easier for him to read on different colored paper with his Dyslexia. Sure enough his name on the front in his mother's crystal clear handwriting, crystal clear being a joke because her name was Crystal. He felt tears prick at his eyes as he thought of that, the wave of homesickness catching him off guard. He hesitated before opening the letter, Bob's letter coming to mind as he unfolded the pastel blue paper.

_Michael,_

_I hope you are doing okay, I heard about what happened to your eye and I can only hope it doesn't hurt too much, if it does then please tell the wizard doctors about it so they can help you. They also told me about magical prosthetic eyes, I don't know how you feel about it but I've been looking into it as much as I can, its really quite amazing. Cost of them is an issue but I have been saving money and if I can pay for it gradually instead of just in one chunk then it won't be a problem. Because of that you're coming home at Easter so we can see the wizard doctors about it, its good to have a professional opinion and even Bob can't argue with that so we can talk about it then in April. _

_Take care of yourself and try to stay safe, I'm sorry you can't come home for Christmas again but Bob is insistent and you know what he's like, especially since you're coming back for Easter. Its not so bad I hope, at least you're away from him. The little ones send their love and Bertie said his first word! Alright it was juice not hi but I'm sure the sentiment is there. We'll see you in a few months, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  
_

_Lots of love,_

_Mum_

Michael read and reread it through until the letters starting hurting his eyes, he wiped away the tears but more were already coming. He knew it was probably pathetic to miss his mother but he would just have to be pathetic, he missed his mother and his little brothers and sisters and as much as he loved Hogwarts, he still missed them, despite Bob he wished he was home. Because of Bob he wished he was home, he should be there to protect his mother and help with the little ones, it was selfish of him to be in Hogwarts with loads of presents when his mother was in work - they paid extra on holidays - and the little ones were opening their meager stock of gifts with the babysitter. He missed his mum so much.

It took him awhile to calm down but he did, he always did, things could get tough, things could be terrible, you could break down, you could be upset, you could be angry so long as you remembered to pick yourself up again and keep on fighting. He shouldn't be upset, he'd see his family again in April which was sooner than summer even if he didn't want a prosthetic eye then he could still be home for a bit. It wasn't all bad, his mother clearly didn't hate him for losing his eye and being scarred like Bob had said. He was feeling better about his eye though, reviving Scorpius with CPR had reminded him that he wasn't completely useless even with one eye, it wasn't the end of the world and he could adapt. The holidays were halfway over pretty much so it wasn't too long before his friends returned as well, he'd be glad when he knew Maurice was away from his father.

Feeling slightly better about things he got dressed - including his sweater from Mrs Weasley - and headed out, he'd been psyching himself up since everyone left and had promised himself that on Christmas he would do it and he never broke a promise, Sanfords never break promises willingly. He wished Merry Christmas to the Aurors he passed, some just blinked in surprise, some shot him a dark look and others smiled as they returned the greeting. Michael made it outside and went to retrieve one of the school brooms, his allocated healing time had passed and he had to get back on the horse - or in this case broom - at some point. He still didn't think it was particularly smart, he only had one eye left so he should be more careful lest he wind up completely blind but on the other hand he liked flying and he needed to see if he could still do it. Stupid and ugly that was him anyway according to Copper, Michael disliked the Ravenclaw but had no doubt he was right on that occasion at least.

He took a deep breath as he got out one of the brooms and mounted it, he closed his good eye and kept his bad eye open wide but still saw only nothingness. He wondered if that would ever stop unnerving him, every time he would start to wonder for the briefest of moments what was blocking his vision before remembering the eye just couldn't see. With a magical prosthetic eye he wouldn't have that, it would mean he really would be losing his current eye though, permanently, having it hacked out or however they removed eyes in the magical world and he still despised the thought of having an eye that could see through solid things like the guy Albus mentioned, that would be worse than not seeing anything.

He tried to push it out of his mind as he kicked off into the air, he'd meant to only go a little off the ground but his broom - or possibly just subconsciously - had other plans. He shot up into the air like he'd been shot of a cannon, whooping with childish delight as he soared in the air, spinning around and speeding across the grounds. It obeyed his slightest touch, effortlessly skimming the clouds and veering through the skies, why had he waited so long again? He yanked the broom to a halt, it did stop just at a different position than he'd wanted and he was drifting lazily to the lift but Michael considered it a win. He gazed down on the spectacular castle beside the deep glittering lake and the equally deep dense forest, the sight never got old.

He glanced across at the pitch, it was still a makeshift ice rink with a hole in it as the Ministry wanted to study it more before they let Calderon change it back. His one eyed gaze traveled the castle as he allowed himself to glide slowly towards it, noticing an odd gathering of bodies by the base of the Northern Tower. He moved over to it, drawing closer he saw they were an assortment of Aurors, Calderon and Harry Potter standing beside a lumpy blanket that looked like it was covering something.

"It was an accident!" one of the Aurors was saying desperately, "we just were doing our sweep of the castle as normal and she was just ranting insanely about a dark presence and needing to talk to someone, we told her to calm down and she just screamed we couldn't see it and backed away even though we were on other side of the room. She just tripped on the edge of her dress, fell through the window, we ran to help but by the time we were at the window she had already hit the ground."

"What's going on?" Michael wondered worriedly when he was within range, Calderon looked upset and Mr Potter just looked solemn.

"Professor Sybill Trelawny is dead," Calderon told him sadly after a moment's pause.

"Go back to your flying, Michael," Mr Potter offered dismissively, "you don't need to see this."

* * *

Scorpius was still sitting miserably alone on the bench when Varanian came back out and sat beside him, he recognized him from his clothing because he was wearing a different appearance than the one he'd gone into the hospital with, which was also different to his regular appearance. The streets were snowy and there was a chill in the air, Scorpius didn't feel cold though.

"How's Lysander?" Scorpius asked him.

"He's okay actually," Varanian told him, his voice still sounded the same even with his altered appearance, "they're countering the effects of the sleeping drought, aside the scar on his wrist, there's not really any physical injuries and he's skinny but still a healthy weight. I think we got him before Linden could do any damage, whatever the Shadows did to him left no marks or physical damage and mentally he seems alright so hopefully it wasn't too bad for him. He says it wasn't, that the kidnappers didn't hurt him and gave him a nice room with an en suite bathroom, was given regular meals and mostly they just talked to him from outside the room."

"How long were you in there?" Scorpius wondered, realizing he must have lost track of time in his depressing thoughts on his failure and imaging the horrible things that the boy could be going through.

"Longer than I'd have liked - I hate St Mungo's - but I wanted to make sure he was alright, slipped away while they were working on Lysander to disguise myself as one of the healers to get information. One of the healers knows the Scamanders and recognized him, got onto his parents to get them there quick but also means Aurors will be there soon so we should be gone. I figured you'd use the ring if you wanted me back and whenever I checked on you, you were still here. Are you okay?"

"We failed."

"We saved Lysander. And got some information."

"But we didn't save his brother."

"But we saved Lysander."

"Saving one isn't good enough!" Scorpius snapped bitterly, "they still have the other one... Lorcan, they still have him. We failed, we didn't make a difference, we may as well have done nothing for all the good it did."

"Come with me," Varanian demanded standing up, Scorpius blinked in surprise and was hauled to his feet by Varanian, he took a hat from his jacket and pulled it onto Scorpius before leading him inside.

It was the first time he'd been in the hospital since he'd been rescued, it really was a day for revisiting places. It hadn't changed, still had that clinical feel and was crammed with people. He just followed Varanian, wondering why in the world he'd dragged Scorpius in there. Finally they stopped and Varanian simply gestured to the bed across the room from them, it was Lysander's bed, he recognized the boy immediately and recognized the woman hugging him as his mother, Luna. There was a man there too, he had a very square jaw and wild curly hair, his eyes were a striking shade of amber the same as Lysander, he assumed the man was the father. The couple looked overjoyed, they were smiling through their tears and Lysander's face looked ready to break from the smile on his face as he clung to his parents happily.

"Tell me again how that wasn't worth it," Varanian told him but Scorpius couldn't reply so he simply nodded, seeing the family semi-united made him crave his own, "it may not be as good as saving them both but saving any child or innocent life is worthwhile, we'll find Lorcan too and if the Shadows are holding anyone else captive then we'll also find them and save them then we'll kill those bastards for kidnapping and killing people in the first place."

"Okay," Scorpius agreed with another nod as Varanian led him away again, "guess we made their Christmas."

"Its Christmas?" Varanian repeated with a jolt at the word, his shock evident on his face that morphed slightly back to himself before returning to the changed one. Scorpius hadn't realized Varanian had been in such a good mood until he saw how much his face fell when he realized it was the holiday, even his posture seemed to sag sadly as he hung his head in misery. He spoke next in a voice the fraction of the volume, "yeah, I guess we did."

"Sorry," Scorpius muttered, sincerely regretting mentioning it was Christmas.

Varanian didn't say another word as they continued through the hospital, or when they made it outside. He didn't speak he apparated him in silence back to just outside the Malfoy lands and headed towards the manor, shifting his appearance again and taking back the hat. Scorpius wasn't sure why but he didn't want to question him, they stopped just outside the front door.

"Give me your ring, there's something I've been meaning to do to it and I'll give it back when I'm done," Varanian said in a business tone and Scorpius silently handed it over, his finger felt extremely naked without it, he hadn't taken it off since he'd been given it, "I'll give them your cover story, just go with it."

With that Varanian knocked on the door. The cover story was that Scorpius had gotten lost and suffered from the cold, Varanian had found him barely conscious and taken him to his home where Scorpius had fallen asleep on the couch. Not knowing whether he was a muggle or magical child - meaning he was unsure which authority to contact - he had simply let Scorpius rest and waited until he woke up to see who he was, after that Scorpius had been fed before they set off to find Malfoy Manor which they had. His parents seemed to buy this story - then again, they had no reason not to - and Varanian made his leave as soon as he could.

His parents and grandmother still spent a long time doting on him before they seemed convinced he was alright, it was slightly annoying but Scorpius endured it. Considering the likes of Michael not being able to be with his family at Christmas, the likes of Calderon not having any family at all to celebrate with, the likes of the Scamander family being one short as well as Lorcan not knowing whether he'd ever see them again and the likes of Varanian having lost his family. He was lucky just to have a family that loved him at all and he was grateful even if it could be tedious, it was worth it having people who cared about you at the end of the day.

That was more valuable than any of the gifts he got. Calderon's gift was the first one he opened, he'd been curious since the train what it was. It was a silver ring of a Thestral lying across the top, coming with a handwritten note saying:

_Since you suddenly like rings. Merry Christmas, Scor_

Scorpius smiled as he put the Thestral ring where his Varanian ring usually went, it fitted very snugly and his finger no longer felt too bare.


	45. II: Family at Christmas

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter and Aya Diefair for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Just to let you know updates should be daily or near daily again now for the rest of the summer, I've only got 2 days of the course left and because I wanted to write all these different points of views before I posted them I'm actually ahead of you for once so you'll get an update tomorrow even though I'm busy. Like I said these chapters are a bit different so you may or may not like, last chapter was Vern, Michael and Scorpius and this chapter its Albus, Maurice and Abby  
_

**_Questions:_**

**_He got his son a gallon?_**  
_He got him a Galleon, wizard money_

**_Do you watch Michael McIntrye, it's just the son saying juice reminded me of it?_**  
_No I don't watch comedians. I just googled common words that babies/toddlers say and picked juice off of it_

**_Go back to your flying? After he's teacher just died he's expected to go off flying like it's nothing? Is the Guy insane?_**  
_He just didn't think it was appropriate for a 12 year old to be around a dead body or be around while he was talking to the Aurors about what happened, he was trying to politely tell Michael to go away_

**_He gets taken in by a strange man? After what he's been through?_**  
_They were too relieved at the time that Scorpius was okay to question it then Varanian got away quickly anyway but once they've calmed down they will and do get suspicious_

* * *

Albus was not enjoying the holidays. James and his friend Carver were not making life easy for him, every time he turned around he was pranked or tripped or had what he was holding knocked out of his hand. He'd considered telling his mum but he wasn't exactly a taddle-tale, besides they were always told to be gracious to guests and Carver was the perfect guest around his parents and Lily, so polite and nice. He wished Michael had accepted his offer to stay with him, having a friend around would make things more bearable at least.

His dad was so busy working that he still barely saw him as well, that morning they'd only just started to open their presents when his dad had been called away for something urgent. He'd promised to be back later but it wasn't the same, it was two years in a row then that his dad hadn't been there for present opening. His mum hadn't looked pleased and for a few seconds Albus had allowed himself to feel hopeful that she could convince his dad to stay, to his - and James and Lily's - disappointment it seemed to have gone the other way around, his dad must have convinced her it was important because she didn't look upset when she came back from the kitchen, she did look concerned though but didn't say why.

They were going to their grandparents as usual, Albus supposed his dad would just have to meet them there again. Uncle Charlie was already there as was Uncle Percy with Molly and Lucy, Uncle Billy and Aunt Fleur were already there with Dom and Louis too but Vic wasn't, she and Teddy had moved into an apartment together for their Auror training so had to come in their own time. After being hugged several times by the adults they were shooed away by his mother who wanted to talk to the other adults alone, he went over to sit with his cousins instead who seemed to be in mixed spirits. Molly and Louis were cheerful enough as they chatted about Quidditch while Dom and Lucy didn't look particularly happy.

"What's up?" Albus asked as he sat down with them and forced a smile while Dom started scribbling down on parchment, James and Carver went over to Molly and Louis to complain about Scorpius and Latimer being on the team, "its Christmas, turn that frown upside down, Luce."

"I can't," Lucy told him monotonously, "I have no magic and my mother is dead."

"Aurelius says its not the end of the world to have no magic," Dom piped up while still writing, "muggles have perfectly happy lives without it, you can still be involved with the magical world. Aurelius' brother Romulus was a squib and he actually wanted to be the first squib Minister for Magic, he wanted to create better cooperation between the muggle and magical world, he thought Wizardkind would be less prejudiced against muggles, muggle-borns and squibs if they were less cut off from the muggle world and had more of an understanding of what it was like. He wanted to turn his lack of magic into a strength to make the world a better place. You have to be less negative, Lucy."

"Judging from everything that happened its pretty obvious Romulus failed."

"Unfortunately he died before he turned seventeen. But my point is you shouldn't act like its the end of the world that you have no magic, it sucks but you have to adapt," Dom pointed out and Lucy gave a derisive snort but said nothing, Dom seemed unfazed as she simply carried on writing.

"Writing a letter to your boyfriend?" James wondered mockingly to which Dom blinked in surprise.

"No its for Aurelius, why the hell would I write a letter to my boyfriend? Then he might write back, he's really nice but really boring. Aurelius is much more interesting but still really nice, Christmas is a difficult time for him and I wasn't allowed to invite him to spend Christmas with us - even though I'm of age now so I should be able to invite who I want - so I'm writing him as much as possible to try keep his spirits up."

"I will give you money if you stop talking about Aurelius," Lily complained to which Dom raised an eyebrow.

"Well in that case maybe I should give you money to stop talking about how you get to go to Hogwarts next year."

"Its only eight months and one week away now, not a year."

"My point precisely but whatever, I'm going to send this and then see what the adults are talking about."

"Everyone gets to go to Hogwarts but me," Lucy whispered miserably while Dom stood up and left.

Albus felt left out after that, Lily chatted with Lucy as they were quite close, James chatted with his friend Carver and Molly continued chatting with Louis about Quidditch practices but Albus was alone. Glumly he wondered if Michael would have came if they hadn't fought near the start of term, on one hand he'd forgiven Scorpius for ruining his face so he couldn't be the type to hold a grudge but on the other they hadn't exactly resolved their issue, Michael had never _said_ he forgave him.

Maybe Albus would apologize again and see what Michael said, the Quidditch World Cup was in the summer and he was hoping he could invite him and Scorpius to that, Rose and Abby were already going so he didn't need to invite them but he'd have his friends which would be awesome and if Michael saw his family weren't so bad then maybe he'd come for Christmas, Albus wouldn't have to endure James and Carver all by himself and Michael wouldn't have to be all alone, win-win. Although if Professor Vipera was staying for Christmas than it was completely the opposite and Michael was the lucky one, he sighed dreamily, she was so beautiful.

Uncle George and Aunt Angelina arrived next with Freddie and Roxy, Roxy joining the girls in chatting while Freddie joined Louis and Molly. Before they'd finished hugging each other though, Teddy and Vic arrived with Andromeda, they all joined the adults in the kitchen. Albus was still feeling very left out, kicking himself for not convincing Michael to stay with him for Christmas and wishing Uncle Ron wouldn't make Rose be the last one there. Finally Uncle Ron and Aunt Hermione arrived with Rose and Hugo, after hugs and hellos the adults also joined the others in the kitchen while Hugo and Rose joined him, at least he was glad to see that Uncle Ron seemed to have recovered from his attack last year. Carver was looking very out of place in a sea of Weasley sweaters.

"About time," Albus grumbled to his cousins, "why is everyone taking forever today?"

"Well you know Dad," Rose shrugged, "besides we're having dinner later today because Aunt Gabrielle is working this morning at St Mungo's so there's no rush, that's what Mum said, probably why they're not really cooking yet."

"Then why do we still have to be here at lunchtime?!"

"Someone's grouchy today," Hugo commented unhelpfully and Albus shot him a frustrated look.

"And where's Cel then?"

"Working with Uncle Harry."

"Yeah," Rose nodded and sat up a little straighter, "one of the professors at Hogwarts died earlier this morning, the Aurors might have had something to do with it so its a big deal."

"Not Professor Vipera, please tell me its not Professor Vipera?!" Albus burst out fearfully, not daring to breath until Rose shook her head.

"No, some Trelawny woman."

"That's such a relief!"

"Erm... some lady still died," Hugo pointed out and Albus scowled, that had probably sounded a lot more callous than he'd meant it too.

"I know and that's very sad."

Thankfully he was spared from having to try to guiltily explain himself further by someone else stepping through the fireplace, it was Albus' Dad and he would have ran to hug him if a silver gazelle hadn't taken that moment to bound in from... Albus hadn't been looking. It was incredible, it seemed wispier than Ashain's Patronus but Albus was still impressed. And jealous. He couldn't wait to nail that spell and see what his Patronus animal was.

"_Someone found Lysander_," the gazelle spoke to them in Aunt Gabrielle's voice, "_he's alive and alright, Luna and Rolf are already here with him. Come as soon as you can, Harry, you wanted to be informed. I'm sorry I didn't contact you sooner, I was taking care of him. No sign of Lorcan but Lysander is alive and well. Repeat, Lysander is alive and well._"

* * *

Maurice took a deep breath as he opened the door and left his neat minimalistic bedroom, heading down the corridor to the kitchen where predictably he knew his father would be. Sitting at one of the stools at the pass through, the apartment they'd been given since moving to England wasn't particularly big and lacked a study for his father. Roman Rivers was pouring over papers for his work, scribbling away although his eyebrow twitched which tended to be an indication he was aware of his presence.

Maurice walked over and deposited the stack of parchment beside his father, he paused only to flick his brown eyes at the pile before going back to his work. Maurice put a hand over his translator necklace, focusing his energy to make it work, he knew it worked because he could feel it vibrating slightly between his fingers and feel it sapping his strength. He already felt physically drained and sore from the blood quill, why not mentally drained as well?

"I completed the essay you asked me to write about my failure," Maurice said, or hoped he said anyway, the amulet didn't translate his own words but he trusted himself to speak by then, his father and his first school had done a good job of drilling it into him and making sure he spoke as articulately as a hearing person. His father's lips moved in reply and the solid white words formed around his head for Maurice to read.

_Good_, his father told him simply and flicked his wand with his free hand, tossing the parchment into the flames of the nearby fire to be torn apart.

"You're not going to read it?"

_No_

"But I spent days writing it. What was the purpose if you didn't want to read it?"

_The purpose of writing it was to make you think about why you're failing and ways to improve it. The purpose of the blood quill is to punish you for your failure. There is no point to my reading it. Its your job to succeed without my help_

"Okay," Maurice nodded trying not to feel bothered, his father had a point and his father was right. It was necessary he suffered to succeed, he just wished it didn't hurt so much and that his father didn't seem to care. His father pulled out a book about Patronus' from the drawer beside him and dumped it beside his papers.

_Next task is to copy that book out with the blood quill. Let the words sink in on how to do it_

"Do I have to right now? Its Christmas."

_I'm aware of the date Maurice. It has not significance to us_

"Corin's going back to France to be with his mother, his father is going to because its the Yule Ball. The Weasleys and Potters have a big celebration."

_Why would I know what the Weasleys and Potters do. Percy always convinced my sister to force me to stay in that hellish Hogwarts for the holidays. He made it brutally clear to me as a child that I wasn't welcome_

His father's words were no different as the necklace failed to take into account like tone of voice or sarcasm and didn't punctuate beyond pauses but from the expression on his father's face, he was angry. Maurice was tempted to back off but what did he have to lose really? He was going to have to write with the blood quill again regardless, he was stinging all over already. Not just his hands and wrists, Michael didn't know - not even Corin knew - the blood quill scars extended far beyond his wrists.

"Did you ever consider that the reason I have such trouble with the Patronus charm is because I don't have happy memories to call on?" Maurice wondered, his father paused again and glanced at him expressionlessly, "its all studying and practicing and writing, even if I succeed at anything its not good enough so its not really a success or a good memory."

_Do you ever consider the reason you have so much trouble is just because you're not trying hard enough_

"I always try as best I can, I'm the top of my class for everything except flying and Orous is only as good as me at practical spells."

_I told you not to say that boy's name in front of me_

"Well I'm not calling him the boy, he's my friend," Maurice protested defensively and his father gave him a dark look but it wasn't something he would sway on.

_The Patronus spell is important. It casts aside Specters. You need to be able to do that so you can protect yourself. I can't protect you. Maurice. I can't. Not forever and probably not even now. Not from Shadows and not from Specters. At the end of the day the only person you can count on is yourself. I can't save you. Your friends can't save you. There's a war going on. A war that is going to shake this world and no one can avoid it and no one can protect you from it. You're going to have to pick a side along with everyone else and whatever side you pick you'll be in danger and you damn well better be prepared_

"I understand that, I just don't understand why we can never do... good things or anything fun. What's the point in fighting to survive this war if all there is this all the time? Why can't we just for today do something normal and together and nice and not... not painful with the blood quill like the other people do."

_Because you're deaf. You're not normal so you don't get to do normal things like we would if you could hear_

"And we never do Christmas presents either."

_Materialistic possessions are meaningless. They won't help in the war and only cloud your focus. I give you things you need to survive_

"I know but this is giving gifts to others not yourself, I think the concept that someone means enough to you that put effort into getting them something is worthwhile," Maurice explained and his father just looked at him with an unreadable expression, "I went out and got my friends gifts at Diagon Alley the other day for the first time."

_I don't recall giving you permission to that_

"I didn't realize I needed your permission," Maurice pointed out truthfully, his father had never specifically said that he needed permission to leave the house, he clearly hadn't noticed Maurice had even left either so he didn't see why his father looked angry.

_I told you before not to look at me like your mother. Its bad enough you're related to that bitch without looking like her and reminding me of her. Getting your friends gifts was foolish. You shouldn't get attached to people who are just going to die in the war_

"They won't die."

_Two muggle-borns and a half-breed won't last long. Malfoy and the boy are pure-bloods but they're pretty much doomed to die_

"What makes you think Orous is a pure-blood? He could be a half-blood, he knows his father was a wizard but not his blood status," Maurice offered and his father gave him a strange look that replaced his anger.

_I would think he has to be as naturally talented with magic as he is, especially with his albinism. Now get to work or you can copy the book twice instead. You've stalled long enough and I have work to do_

His father seemed to have decided the conversation was over, he waved his hand dismissively and went back to what he was writing. Normally Maurice would have picked up the book and walked off but there was still one thing and really his main reason for going to see his father in the first place, finishing the essay was just an excuse. He did pick up the book so it was out of the way and pulled an object out of his pocket, placing it down where the book had been. It must have made a sound because his father looked back up at the object, it was a globular glass paperweight he'd bought for his father with the Roman Colosseum inside.

"I got this for you. I didn't know what you'd like so I got you this paperweight, I thought it might be useful because you have so many papers that you're always writing. I got one with the Colosseum because its ancient and you work with ancient artifacts and things, also because its Roman and you're name's Roman," Maurice explained awkwardly but his father's expression remained completely blank as he simply stared at the paperweight, Maurice hoped he was speaking loud enough to be heard, he should be but his father didn't look like he was hearing him, "Merry Christmas, Father."

Maurice turned to walk away, letting go of his necklace to free himself from the draining feeling. He wished - not for the first time - that he was closer to his father and that his father actually liked him, if he was good enough then his father would like him but nothing ever was, even when he managed a Patronus there'd be something he could of done better. There always was. He felt a hand grasp his wrist, he tried not to cringe as it made the words he'd just cut into his skin sear with pain as his father pulled him back to face him. He looked at Maurice for a second, opening his mouth but no words came out, or at least none that Maurice could hear. Roman shook his head and let him go abruptly, waving him off again to go back to his punishment.

Maurice suppressed the urge to cry - crying was weak and he couldn't be weak, not even when he was alone - as he returned to his neat little room, sitting down at his desk with the spare parchment already ready. He flipped open the book and picked up the blood quill, he took a deep breath and braced himself for the pain as he put pen to parchment once more and watched his blood spell the words being engraved on his skin and into his mind. Sometimes he wished he was anyone else but him.

* * *

Abby had been looking forward to the holidays but had also been worried about how it would go with her father getting his prosthetic arm, she thought she'd only just gotten used to seeing him without his left arm before he got the prosthetic. It was made of some dark wood but was magically charmed - of course - to make it more useful and as much like a real arm as possible, it had been crafted to be able to bend and rotate similar to the way a real arm could but could actually go further such as being able to rotate his elbow three-hundred and sixty degrees. Her dad had had trouble controlling it at first but the healers insisted he just needed to get used to it, he was still quite clumsy but was getting more better as the days passed.

She was glad, she'd had fears it wouldn't work or something would go wrong but it was usable and her dad just seemed pleased to be able to use his left side again. She did like being home for the holidays, she missed her younger brother - August, mother and now sister while she was in school and even though Nick and her dad were in Hogwarts with her, it wasn't the same, she didn't get to speak to Nick much and the most she saw her dad was in class when he was 'professor' not 'dad.' But seeing her parents and August reminded her always just made her hate the Shadows even more for nearly taking them from her, she never had been a particularly hate-filled person before but she truly hated the Shadows with a ferocity she surprised herself. She tried not to think about though, there was nothing she could do about it.

Christmas had started off good, they'd traveled by Portkey to Beauxbatons to see Heather and while Abby was disappointed to be unable to see the outside of the building - not yet anyway - but it was nice inside. She hadn't put much stock in Corin's exaggerated bragging on how wonderful Beauxbatons was but at least in appearance, he hadn't been wrong. The school seemed designed to impressed, the walls were flawlessly free of blemishes or scratches or marks, the decor all seemed extremely neat and very bright, lots of light and lots of stained glass windows. They'd also received word via patronus that Lysander had been found and was alright, it was great news except for Lorcan still being missing. It was only when they were leaving that things had gone south, her dad had wanted to thank Madame Maxime for allowing them to be there to see Heather before they left but something had been troubling her and naturally the adults had wanted to talk about it privately.

And so Abby and her brothers were waiting in immense boredom - they didn't have their gifts or anything to amuse themselves as their mum had put them back in the magically extended bag to bring back - for the conversation to finish. It had been over an hour.

"Well this sucks," Nick announced usefully, "there's a school full of people having fun dancing at the Yule Ball - including our dear sister - and we're stuck sitting on these stupid steps with nothing to do and no end in sight. Everyone else in the world is probably having a great Christmas but no, we're left alone and forgotten."

"Don't you think you're exaggerating slightly?" Abby wondered before Nick jumped up abruptly, "what are you doing?"

"Well I'm not going to sit around bored out of my skull for another minute, that's for sure. I'm going looking for something interesting, either of you care to join me?"

"Mum and Dad said to wait," August pointed out tow which Nick smirked and started walking away.

"If Mum and Dad want to be listened to then they shouldn't ditch us. So you two coming or not? We can see how Heather's ball is going, its probably started by now."

"We're not invited to that," Abby protested but Nick seemed not to hear, she exchanged a look with August who seemed to share her sentiments before racing after Nick, "didn't you hear me? We're not invited to the Yule Ball we can't just show up. And I don't think Heather would want us there anyway in case we ruin her day or evening. Whatever."

"Interesting reasoning. My counterargument is, better than being bored."

"Please, Nick, I don't want to get in trouble, I might get banned from going to Hogwarts next year," August whined and Abby started to hear music.

"You won't get in trouble, if we get caught then just say I tricked you into following me so you were doomed."

"How did you do that?"

"Simple, pretended I didn't hear so you'd run after then walk with me until you got lost and couldn't find the way back by yourself," Nick explained with another smirk and the trio came to a halt, August's big eyes looked around fearfully and Abby realized that was actually what Nick had done. She didn't know the way back from where they were, she wasn't even sure where they were as she hadn't been paying attention. Abby shot Nick a glare, August realized this too as he angrily whacked his brother's arm but Nick only laughed.

"You snakey ass!"

"Least you're not bored," Nick offered and continued walking with them forced to tag along.

"How do you even know where you're going?" Abby asked him frustratedly.

"Following the music."

It didn't actually take them long to get to the Yule Ball, the music got louder as they got closer as did her and August's protests for Nick to lead them back. He didn't. Abby was hoping someone would know how to get back if Nick still refused, at least they were hovering in the doorway just watching people dance instead of barging in and managing to ruin the dance and make fools out of themselves at the same time. She spotted Heather, dressed in the same pink dress as she'd shown them earlier with her blonde hair all done up beautifully in curls as she danced with some good-looking guy, Abby sighed as she wished she could look that pretty when she was Heather's age, she was so bland she blended into the background so that no one ever noticed her. August still looked bored though.

"Abby? What are you doing here?" Corin's voice questioned and Abby jumped in surprise as she noticed him coming over to them, he was looking rather elegant in his dress robes not that he didn't always hold himself with an air of superiority anyway.

"Nick got bored and dragged us here," August answered casting their brother a dark look.

"We're just having a nose," Nick confirmed, Corin looked at them curiously for a moment before shrugging while Nick watched the dance, "damn, you are so lucky to get to dance at this thing. I wish Molly was here."

"Why don't you dance?" Corin offered.

"Because we're not invited," Abby reaffirmed to which August nodded and Corin smiled.

"Well you are the siblings of the Hogwarts champion so as the Headmistress of Beauxbaton's son, I formally invite you three into the dance. Knock yourself out."

"I still can't, Molly's my girlfriend and she's not here," Nick pointed out regretfully.

"Well then ask someone else to dance, dancing isn't cheating," Corin assured him before taking out his wand and flicking it at Nick, immediately her brother's clothes became more formal looking and Nick looked intrigued as he studied the hall, "go ahead, it'll be fun."

"Do any of them speak English?"

"If they don't just ask someone to dance in French. Voulez-vous danser avec moi? Simple."

"Voulez-vous danser avec moi?" Nick repeated and Corin nodded, Nick grinned and ran his fingers through his hair to make it neater before going over to pretty girl standing alone. Abby was too far away to hear the conversation but the girl beamed at whatever Nick said and led him onto the dance floor.

"Is that true about it not being cheating to dance with other girls?" Abby asked disapprovingly of Corin who remained beside them with a wild grin.

"I have no idea," Corin told her brightly with a shrug, "it doesn't matter. If it is true then Nick's alright and nothing changes, if its not then Nick and Molly break up so Scor can go out with her instead. That would be better, would cheer him up."

"It wouldn't cheer Nick up," August pointed out darkly giving Corin a glare that didn't faze him, "dancing is stupid. Do you know how to get back to our parents?"

"Later. Me and Abby are talking. Did you have a nice Christmas?"

"Until our parents started talking to your mum and all this happened, yeah. You?"

"No. My parents had a fight."

"Was it because you're sneaky and mean?" August questioned and it was Corin's turn to shoot the boy a dark look.

"No it wasn't."

"Do you know what happened to worry your mother?" Abby asked as much out of curiosity as to keep the peace, someone had to do it without Michael around.

"Yes, a teacher at Hogwarts died. She may have been killed by Aurors so its kind of worrying," Corin explained, "Scor will be pleased though, he never did like those Aurors and turns out he was right to not to."

"You said may have not was. We don't know for sure."

"Well we should ask Michael when we get back, since he's there and all he'll probably know. On the bright side, if we're in just as much danger from the Aurors then they may not even keep them around. Would be nice to not constantly have them everywhere."

"That would make Scorpius even happier," Abby pointed out thoughtfully and sadly, she was afraid to ask which teacher had died. They stood in silence for a moment as Corin shifted nervously.

"So... Abby... Would you erm...would you like to dance with me?" Corin asked awkwardly and anxiously, Abby blinked in surprise, she had not been expecting that. Corin's face went beetroot red as he stared at his feet, "you know just as friends. Since your here and I'm here. When are we going to get to see another Yule Ball after all? Or at least one that I'm not a gazillion feet tall freak that no one would ever dance with. It just seems a waste of you being here and me having learned to dance. And its better than dancing with someone you know than with strangers. If you want. Me, I couldn't care less. Its not a big deal."

"Well I would but I don't really know how to dance."

"I can teach you," Corin offered hopefully as his head shot up, he cringed back, "I mean, if you like. It'd pass the time and you'd know for next time."

"I'm not dressed up nice though," Abby admitted glancing down at her skirt and Christmas sweater in comparison to the pretty dresses the other girls were wearing, Corin seemed surprised.

"You don't need to dress up nice to dance, you look nicer than most of them even without a fancy dress," Corin told her and Abby felt herself blushing furiously as was Corin, August was looking amused, "nevermind. Forget I said anything."

"Okay," Abby said quietly offering Corin her hand before she could change her mind, he looked surprised before smiling as he started to lead her onto the dance floor while August groaned and muttered something about hating dancing, "teach me how to dance as friends."

"Oui, mademoiselle. Joyeux Noel et bonne annee."


	46. II: Sickness

_**Author's Note:** thanks so much to Lucifersdaughter for reviewing! Also yeah Jack only got his son a single Galleon, its not much but its the first Christmas present he's given his son in 2 years  
_

* * *

_"Come to me, Scorpius, things would be better for you if you did."_

Scorpius' holidays had gone sour very fast, the more presents he opened the more anxious his parents got, asking him for more details on what had happened while he'd been gone. In truth he hadn't been paying a lot of attention to the details of Varanian's story while his parents started to notice inconsistencies and pressed for better answers when he gave as vague as possible or claimed not to remember.

Eventually they insisted on taking him to St Mungo's to get him checked out, against his protests. He had to endure the humiliation of being examined by people who weren't as courteous as the Hogwarts head healer - Scorpius really needed to learn his name - had been. They'd eventually knocked him out to examine because he refused and fought against it so much - how could be not? They'd found nothing obviously and he'd been let go. He was furious with his family though, so livid with anger it made his wrist burn. He regretted saying anything to upset Varanian, maybe then Varanian would have thought of a more cohesive explanation or maybe Scorpius could have just convinced him that he was better off staying with Varanian.

The mood he was in, he'd be happy if he never saw his parents again. He'd stormed off to his room and refused to come out for Christmas dinner or for anything despite his parents pleas and insistence it was for his own good, Yip had brought him food eventually that Scorpius had forced himself to eat, he'd managed not to snap at his house-elf friend despite wanting nothing more than to lash out at somebody but it was far from Yip's fault and he managed to keep his anger in check. He was still angry though, how could his parents do that to him? He felt like the whole world was against him, muggles wanted to hurt me, magical people were just as bad as them, Shadows were after him and now his own family wanted him to suffer. Then again, what should he have expected after all his parents had lied to him about the muggles being taken care of already.

He wished Varanian would contact him to take him away already and then he remembered that Varanian had the ring so Scorpius was stuck without even means to speak to him, he still had so many things he wanted to talk to him about while they had the advantage of face-to-face contact but no. He had no way of contacting Varanian. He wasn't even allowed out of the house, on Boxing Day he'd tried to take another walk to see if he could leave a message in the trees or something only to be told it was too dangerous and he had to stay in his room. They refused to budge on the matter and he retreated angrily back to his room, accidentally setting a mantlepiece on fire as he went in his rage. They were determined to sabotage him, he was still hurt and angry his parents would do that to him and stayed in his room again, with Yip bringing him food again. He vowed to just stay in his room until he was going back to Hogwarts or until his anger subsided. His anger didn't subside.

His parents and even his grandmother tried to convince him to come out but he refused, only leaving when he needed the bathroom, Yip brought him meals still. Two days after that his parents came with a peace offering, saying he could go for a walk if they were with him. It was the complete opposite of a peace offering to him though, he couldn't try contact Varanian with them with him and it only reminded him of the muggles, he'd been allowed out of the room to go to the bathroom and sometimes for exercise but always he was escorted by one of his captors. That's what his situation reminded him off, his own parents were making him feel like a prisoner again. He cried himself to sleep that night. If he had of had his ring to contact Varanian then he was seriously considering running away but he couldn't so he had nowhere to go.

Spending your days cooped up angry and worried weren't healthy though, he actually felt ill. He was anxious about his wrist and he really needed to talk to Varanian about it for some peace of mind or answers or some way to get rid of it but he couldn't. He'd been sleep-walking again too, twice he'd woken to find himself on the floor again. He was really worried but Varanian was the only person he could talk to about it but Varanian wasn't there, his new-found ally seemed to have forsaken him. Scorpius was so miserable, he really just wanted to get back to Hogwarts already. Or for Varanian to contact him again. Or both.

* * *

Skye Ashain was doing the dishes, she'd never particularly enjoyed household chores in the past, in truth she had utterly despised them and had felt extremely blessed to marry a man who didn't mind doing the majority, even before he became a stay-at-home husband. But now she found it almost relaxing, it was a very normal, very non-magical thing to do and she valued that ever since finding out about the magical world. She had always been a pragmatic person, even as a child she hadn't had much belief in things like that, valuing logic greatly and liking to know how things worked, to the point that she'd made her brother cry one year as she pointed out the impossibilities of Santa to her parent and demanded a reasonable explanation.

It made it difficult to cope with the realization that most of the illogical things she had never believed in were real, along with a whole host of things she'd never even heard of. Some days she still found it difficult believe that only two years ago she'd been happy and they'd been trying for another baby, life hadn't been a hundred percent perfect - when was life ever a hundred perfect? - but things were good and she'd been happy, until the day Cassia made her birthday cake dance. In truth it did explain some things she'd always found odd but mostly she still wished Atticus and the kids weren't sick with magic or they'd been cured already or even that she'd just never found out, ignorance was bliss, but then she felt even more stupid for having been lied to for nearly a decade. Magic was a shock and it hurt even more that he'd lied. He hadn't thought to tell her before he married her or before they had children who'd more than likely inherit his condition.

"Want some help with those?" Atticus offered from the doorway nearly making her jump, he was helpful like that but she didn't want his help. Not when he'd use magic to do it at least, she didn't want him using magic but she didn't want him to know that. Of course if he could read her mind then she'd be screwed but Atticus couldn't read minds as mind reading was called Legillimancy and could only be done by a Legillimens which he wasn't, Skye really wished she didn't know that.

"No, its alright I got it," Skye told him and he gave her the same slightly confused look he'd been giving her every time she shot down his help, "I told you, Atty, it helps me think."

"Since when?"

"Since I started doing it. Weren't you running the kids their bath anyway?"

"They just wanted to see the end of the movie first, its nearly over so I thought I'd see if you needed any help."

"Well I'm good."

"Then I guess I'll get back to it," Atticus muttered unhappily as he retreated from the kitchen to leave her to the dishes.

Skye sighed sadly and went back to the dishes, she knew it wasn't his fault, Atticus hadn't chosen to be born with the magical condition and had cruelly been kept in isolation from the real world for his whole childhood so he didn't know any better. He'd been brainwashed into thinking it was normal to be sick as well as being damaged by the magical disease itself, she knew it was true and she was right, why else would an otherwise smart, rational, logical person be so completely blind to the truth?

If magic was so good then why did they hide away like fugitives? What gave them the right to keep something so completely life-altering as the existence a secret? What gave them the right to _erase_ people's memories without even the victim's consent or knowledge? What gave them the right to deny people knowledge that they were in danger from those Shadow people of the Death Eating people from twenty years ago? If magic was so amazing then why didn't they use it to actually help the world? How many people died from things magic could save? There were so many questions she had like that but none of the answers she'd been given were satisfactory, they were just excuses to justify their actions to themselves.

And Atticus was just as taken in as the rest of them, he couldn't see how blatantly obviously wrong it was and how utterly dangerous magic was. Every time she saw him he seemed to have more scars or injuries caused by magic, he'd nearly been torn in half by magic less than a year ago and he didn't have a problem with that?! He'd barely survived and barely recovered but _still_ thought magic was alright. Bit by bit magic was killing him, only one of the days he wouldn't be so lucky and it would kill him, eventually it would kill their children too. Unless she could save them, cure them of their disease. The three of them would be safe then and things could go back to how they were before, when they were happy and normal and not in danger.

Skye finished the dishes and walked back through to the other room, the tree dwarfed the tiny room but it was nice and cosy. She could hear the tap running upstairs from Atticus getting the bath ready, she assumed he was up there anyway as the children were the only ones in the room watching the television, Mickey's Christmas Carol. It really was near the end, the credits started rolling just after she sat down on the couch beside her son, Antonius or Tony for shot, and she recalled sadly how she used to think it was amusing how Atticus believed you were supposed to actually read the credits at the end of things. Now she knew why it just seemed stupid.

"Mummy, you missed all the end when Scrooge," Tony complained looking horrified.

"Its alright, I've seen it before," Skye told him truthfully and he seemed appeased by this.

"It was wrong," Cassia announced firmly folding her arms and leaning back in the armchair, "ghosts can't do all those things, we metted them at Hogwarts and they can't show you thing like that."

"Its make-belief, its not supposed to be real."

"You should come to Hogwarts with us next time, Mummy, you can meeted the ghosts too. Esept for the Bloody Baron they are quite nice really, so are the portraits and the other growed ups."

"No, Cassia," Skye said firmly and the little girl scrunched her face up into a scowl.

"When are we getting cured?" Tony asked before Cassia could complain, he'd stopped thinking magic was so amazing after the fiasco with the... Quidditch? although he'd been less intrigued by it than his sister, Cassia remained as enthusiastic as ever though.

"Soon, they're getting closer and as soon as they have a cure they'll tell us."

"Okay. I hope its soon before Daddy dies."

"Don't be silly, Daddy can't die," Cassia decided seriously.

"Yes he can, my friend Barney's granny died."

"Well Daddy's better than Barney's granny and he can't die."

"No one's better than anyone," Skye interjected but Cassia didn't look the slightest bit swayed in her belief.

"Daddy is and he can't die. And I know that is a secret that we're not allowed to tell Daddy but those peoples are wrong and you can't get cureded of magic acause its not something that needs medsin to make it better, its a parts of us and those people are liars."

"Cassia, liars is a bad word. We've talked about this."

"I know," Cassia grumbled and flopped back into the chair, Skye opened her mouth to scold her but closed it as Atticus came back down the stairs and Cassia bolted to him happily. Skye hoped they'd be cured soon, then her family would be safe and happy and she wouldn't have to lie anymore.

* * *

Vern had been trying to spend as much time alone in his room as much as possible since Christmas, even though his brother and sister had apologized through gritted teeth and he had gotten presents in the end, his dad and Grandma Petunia had seemed to make an effort to be nice to him but he preferred to be alone. Less chance of disrupting the peace, at least he had the perfect excuse with his plenty of extra presents that his dad had insisted on getting for him to make up for what happened at Christmas.

It made it seem even stranger when out of the blue his mum woke him up early on the morning the day before he was set to go back to Hogwarts, insisting he get dressed and come with her. It was almost as early as when Orous woke up, the dawn was only just breaking the sky and no one else was awake. They didn't have breakfast, his mum just got him into the car and started driving. Vern had no idea where they were going, where could they possibly be going so early?

They stopped outside some kind of dilapidated shop, there was no signs to indicate what it was or what they sold, did or were even open. Vern thought it was odd, what kind of shop opened up at that hour? Presumably the same one that didn't think windows gray from the several sheets of dust or dirt and cobwebs were appealing, as they passed through the door he noticed the wood was rotted. Inside wasn't much better, the paint was peeling off the walls and the original color was unrecognizable, there was a wooden shop counter with the biggest spiderweb across the front that he'd ever seen. There were wooden shelves behind the counter, barren except for the occasional glass jar, some empty, some with balls of light inside them. The only other thing in the room were three spindly chairs lined up against the wall, his mum sat down on one and smoothed out her dress nervously. There was nothing else there but a rotting door leading to - presumably - the back room. If he didn't know any better, Vern would have thought the place was abandoned.

"Mum, why are we here?" Vern asked anxiously, watching the giant cobweb as a fly flew into the trap and started buzzing as it tried to escape.

"Its about your illness, now just sit down," his mum told him with a smile that only thinly veiled her concern as she gestured for him to take one of the chairs either side of her. Reluctantly he did so, hearing the fly's buzzing getting more frantic the more it realized it was trapped.

"But I'm not sick," Vern said quietly and looked back to the web, the fly was struggling desperately and a gnarly brown spider had appeared on the edge, calmly inching towards the fly.

"Yes you are but its alright, this lady's going to make you all better then everything will be okay."

"But Mum-"

"Then everything will be okay," his mum repeated firmly with a note of finality in her voice.

It did nothing to put his mind at ease, Vern had an increasingly bad feeling that something was wrong. He had no idea what his mum was talking about, he wasn't sick, not unless she knew something he didn't. His eyes drifted back to the fly, the spider had reached it now and was cocooning it, around and around with tendrils of silk that may as well have been chains to the terrified fly. Vern was starting to feel like he could really emphasize with the fly's situation, he could feel his heart thumping fearfully.

"If I'm sick why not just take me to a doctor," Vern wondered in an even quieter voice as he watched the fly being twirled around and around as the spider trapped it, the buzzing was fainter.

"They can't help you but this person can," his mum explained as the spider stopped spinning the poor fly, Vern was so focused on it, he saw it was going for the kill, going to bite-

"Mrs Millicent Dursley?" a voice questioned and Vern yelped in shock as he jumped, managing to fall off his chair and whack his head against the wall. He was rubbing his head as he looked up at the speaker, the woman looked about thirty-ish - give or take a few years - with ocean colored eyes and shortish light brown hair with a slight wave to it. She gave him a very cold smile, Vern was sure he'd never met her but there was something familiar, "and you must be young Vern. My name is Alexis, come with me now."

"Go on, its alright," his mum confirmed, casting him an uneasy smile as she helped him to his feet and followed Alexis into the backroom.

The backroom didn't look much better than the front, there were dusty wooden cabinets and some shelves with the same glass jars as the other room, some also featuring the strange lights. There was another chair in the corner identical to the ones in the other room that his mum sat down on, Vern was motioned to sit in the chair in the middle of the room. It was a strange looking chair, like one you had to sit on when you went to the dentists, only it looked very old and the leather was a beaten brown rather than clinical looking. Vern swallowed shakily as he lay down on it, wondering not for the first time why he was there. The room seemed extremely dark all of a sudden, he wished he was home.

"Close your eyes now, Vern," Alexis commanded him shortly, "and we'll have you all better."

"What are you going to do to me?" Vern asked so quietly his voice was barely audible even to his own ears as he squeezed his eyes shut tight, he really didn't like whatever was happening and every fiber of his body screamed at him that something was very wrong, his heart was thundering in his ears and he felt very much like the fly at that moment in time.

And then he felt it, like a cold wind had just blown not just against him but _through_ him. It was like icy water was seeping through his skin and filling him up inside so that everything beneath his skin felt frozen, it was so cold it almost physically hurt. His eyes snapped open and he started unblinkingly at the cracked ceiling, so much so it reminded him of dried up earth.

"Not this one," a voice said and it took Vern a minute to realize that it was his own, is own mouth was moving against his will and twisting the words so his voice sounded slightly wrong to his ears, "he's related to the Potters and friends with some important people, he may be more useful in the long run alive."

"Honestly, Brutus, why do you even bother giving me tasks if you just turn around and stop me at the last minute?" Alexis complained sounding irritated, "none of that should matter, he's a mudblood and he has no right to our magic, it will serve the master better to collect it for future use whenever you actually figure out how to wake the master up."

"What are you talking about?! I thought you were making him normal again?! Who is Brutus?! What did you do to him!?" his mum's voice wondered fearfully, he heard a slight strum of a spell being casted followed by a thud.

"Don't you know its rude to interrupt?"

"Look, you answer to me and I'm telling you not this boy," Vern heard his voice speak again but was helpless to stop it or control it, his body wasn't listening to him when he tried to move.

"Does Rabastan agree with you? He doesn't get soft whenever kids are involved like you do."

"Oh shut up and do as your told. And Rabastan does agree."

"Fine. What do you expect me to do about his muggle mother then because she knows and she's expecting him to be magic free?"

"Wake her, make up some excuse or screw with her memory. I'll take care of it later."

* * *

Albus was impatiently waiting, leaning against the doorway waiting to get to leave for Hogwarts already, watching Lily change her mind once more on what stuffed toy she should bring to say goodbye. His mum was rolling her eyes in unison with Albus before he felt an elbow to the shoulder and was knocked back into the corridor.

"Oh sorry, I didn't see you there," James sneered giving an identical angry glare to the one Carver was giving from behind James' shoulder. Albus had had enough.

"What is your problem?!" Albus demanded irritably, "you've done nothing hound me all through the holidays and I've done absolutely nothing! I'm friends with Scorpius, get over it already!"

"Its not about that and you know it."

"What then?!"

"You know what," Carver scoffed and James nodded in agreement.

"No, I really don't."

"Don't play dumb," James snapped, "you know what your friend, Maurice Rivers did to us."

"Sadistic little freak," Carver added with a nod.

"Firstly I'm not friends with Maurice, secondly I still have no idea what you're talking about," Albus pointed out to which James looked confused.

"Nobody told you? The Malfoy, the albino, Hagrid's kid and Dragon-breath all know about it."

"Know about what?!"

"So much for friends, eh? They don't even register you worth being told things to."

"Sorry Al, we assumed you knew," James offered and smirked suddenly, "in that case, want to help us get back at Maurice? And to steal back the map he took."

"I don't know... he's eleven, what could he really have done to you?" Albus pointed out hesitantly, not truly sure he wanted to be apart of one of James' schemes, "and what map are you talking about?"

"Okay let me tell you, little brother, and when I'm done you will realize what shifty little sods you're friends with."

* * *

Scorpius was glad when the holidays were finally over, he also didn't know whether to be mad or concerned about Varanian not having contacted him since Christmas. Either way, there was nothing he could do about it although he was still going to go ahead and use Cassia and her grandfather's vultures to send him a letter the first chance he got. He had his stuff packed up and ready to go before he awoke, in fact he had it ready two days before. He came downstairs ready to go, dressed in his Hogwarts robes under his leather jacket - he thought this also made him stand out less in a muggle crowd but still spared him from having to change on the train - but his parents wanted him to have breakfast. He refused until they threatened him with no Hogwarts.

That didn't mean he had to make polite conversation with them though, he kept his responses as short as possible as they attempted to engage him, he didn't see why they bothered anyway when obviously they hated him. They hadn't even apologized. He reluctantly gave his grandmother a hug before leaving though, he wasn't sure how much she'd agreed with his parents forcing him to go to St Mungo's s but he wasn't going to give his parents one. Both of them were taking him to Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

"You can't stay mad at us forever, Scorpius, we were just trying to make sure were alright," his father said with a sigh just after they got through the barrier. Scorpius resisted the urge to point out that he was alright before they dragged him to the hospital and said nothing to risk being disallowed from returning to Hogwarts as he just started getting his stuff silently into the train.

"There's an issue with your owl, come with me," one of the Porters told him suddenly in a voice that sounded familiar although he didn't recognize the young man, Scorpius scowled and glanced over to see Free was being carried off to the part of the luggage carriage reserved for animals.

"Varanian?" Scorpius guessed so quietly it barely classed for a whisper, the Porter nodded and gestured for Scorpius to come with him further away from his parents and the other families, he spoke louder for his parents to hear, "I'm just going to see what's up with Free, wait here, he's probably spooked by all the people so more people won't help."

His parents didn't look particularly happy but were satisfied with the explanation, they still watched him from afar but as long as he was out of earshot he supposed it didn't matter. Varanian tried to look busy rearranging the same three cages and Scorpius attempted to look like he cared.

"Took you long enough," Scorpius found himself snapping before he could think better of it.

"I've been busy," Varanian said equally snappishly as he shot him a dark look, his piercing eyes bleeding through whatever they looked like, "there's only one of me, Scorpius, I'm damn near exhausted chasing Shadows. Do you think its easy finding out all the things I've found out? I have to juggle so many things all the time, the list of things to do and things to think about and worry about is never-ending. I'm doing the best I can so back the hell off."

"Sorry," Scorpius muttered after a moment in perfect unison with Varanian who also looked like he regretted his words as he sighed, "guess we both woke up on the wrong side of the bed."

"I wish I could've actually gotten to go to bed last night," Varanian pointed out as he pushed an object into Scorpius' hand, it felt like a ring and he slipped it back onto his finger in front of his Thestral ring, "there's the ring back, its a voice activated Portkey now, in case the Shadows you need to get out of a dangerous situation very fast like what happened at your last Quidditch match. Just grab it with your other hand and say 'go' to activate it, it won't take you to the protected location because that's too too risky but its takes you to that area, you should be able to get there in mere minutes. If you do that again and say 'back' then it'll take you back to where you transported from."

"Its really a Portkey?"

"I did test it. Considering I'm already a wanted fugitive breaking a few laws with Portkeys are the least of concerns right now, it should keep you safe though and that's what's important."

"Could I use it so we see each other in person and stay in touch about things that happen?"

"I thought of that but no, Hogwarts will know when a Portkey is activated within its grounds and you're too young for Hogsmeade. There is something I want you to try do for me though."

"What?"

"Find out who amongst the Hogwarts staff is a Shadow."

"How am I supposed to do that?" Scorpius wondered in a scowl to which Varanian grunted.

"Use your initiative, do you want to help or not?"

"Okay, I'll do my best. What am I supposed to do about my wrist though? What Linden said about being bound to the Shadow Master and Specters feeding off my pain and Orous' twin and all that?" Scorpius asked worriedly in a lower voice.

"I don't know how it works or how to break it," Varanian answered unhelpfully and he must have seem the disappointment in Scorpius' eyes because he elaborated, "but I'm trying to find about it. I think maybe your wrist hurts when they're feeding off your pain, try not to be in pain physically or mentally. And work on your patronus, I think it hurts differently because its the magic that repels them, which is also why the... strangeness about the injury lessened, it could be a sign its weakening the connection or stopping them feeding off you or I don't know. You probably feel so drained from the effort of going against the dark magic engraved into your skin. Try get on friendly terms with Orous again, he probably knows something or find out who his twin is because they probably know something too, of course they may not even be at Hogwarts but keep an eye out for that scar. And be careful, this connection probably has unknown side effects."

"Like what?"

"Like it could explain why it hurt me so much to try read your mind, why you go willingly towards people trying to take you, the Shadow Master might be using his influence to screw with your mind and protect it from outside influence at the same time, he may be trying to get to you mentally somehow. It may even be why you and Orous are so powerful so young and naturally gifted at spellwork, if its not one of the reasons he wanted you both bound to him then it could be his influence rubbing off on you or his power bleeding through. As I've said, I don't know how it works exactly, I don't know that much about the Specters either."

"Are you done here yet?" his father asked and Scorpius nearly jumped as the elder Malfoy came over to them, Varanian nodded immediately and Scorpius tried not feel slightly amused that his father didn't recognize Varanian as the man from Christmas.

"Yeah, bird should be okay now. Just check on it when you get back to Hogwarts, make sure its alright. Take care."

Varanian moved off to go back to wherever he spent his days or to help with baggage to douse suspicion while Scorpius was led back to his mother, his father asking about his owl that Scorpius shrugged off with more short responses that made his parents sigh. They wouldn't say much in public though, Malfoys always kept up appearances in public.

"I'm going to go get on the train already, get some good seats," Scorpius announced, it was nearly time for the train to leave and his parents couldn't argue.

"Alright," his mother agreed and went to hug him goodbye, Scorpius yanked himself away before she could though and ignored the hurt in her eyes as he headed towards the train.

"Bye."


	47. II: Returning to Routine

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter and Critique for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Will the shadows follow throughout the books like Voldemort did (except the third)?_**  
_Yes, the conflict with the Shadows/Soul Eaters will follow through all the books (including the third)_

* * *

The train journey back was uneventful, Scorpius got a compartment with Albus, Abby and Rose - although she did leave for a bit to sit with her boyfriend - comparing Christmas holidays. Abby had had a good break, the usually quieter girl probably spoke the most out of all them as she talked about her father's new prosthetic, the Leaky Cauldron and their living space above finally finished and decorated properly, what her sister had told had her about the Triwizard Tournament, the Yule Ball - which she had managed to attend where _Corin_ had taught her to dance. In comparison their own Christmases seemed rather dull, Rose had stayed with her muggle Granger grandparents for the most part - except Christmas Day itself - which was alright except for not seeing much of her busy parents - Scorpius was extremely disappointed they didn't have a motorcycle though. Albus had also barely seen his father much to his disappointment - he hadn't even come to see Albus and James off, with James' friend there and Rose staying with the Grangers he had felt rather lonely.

Scorpius vaguely brushed his Christmas off as unhappy and uneventful, he couldn't tell them about saving Lysander and Varanian after all. They did mention Lysander though, they'd heard about him being saved and were overjoyed although they were still worried about Lorcan, knowing Lysander was alright gave them hope that Lorcan was alive and would be found soon too. Scorpius hoped so too, he knew Varanian would try his best. They hadn't seen Lysander yet though, his parents hadn't wanted him overwhelmed by visitors. Talking to them did put Scorpius more at ease though, it was a break from being lost inside his worried mind and he really hadn't realized how much he missed talking to them.

Things looked up even more when they got off the train and he found himself being hugged my Molly, her hair smelled like cherries again and the blissful scent made his mindful of problems melt and pour out of his ears. He couldn't help but smile, she opted to sit with them in the carriage rather than with Nick - who'd she sat with on the train - which for some reason seemed to bother Abby. She went silent for the whole journey and seemed almost to be trying to look anywhere but at Molly, it was odd, usually she didn't mind Molly. Scorpius tried not to think about it as he talked to Molly, she hadn't had a good Christmas either with it being the first one without her mother, her father was more critical than usual a well as busy with work at the Ministry while her squib sister kept avoiding her. She was in good spirits about being back in Hogwarts though. They all were.

Scorpius noticed that there actually seemed to be less Aurors around which was a relief, he was in a much better mood than he had been that morning as he entered the Great Hall. He was glad to his friend that he could almost have hugged Michael when he saw him already there sitting at the Gryffindor table, he felt a familiar jab of guilt when he saw the jagged scar and ruined eye he'd caused his friend but Michael smiled as he waved for them to sit down. Maurice and Corin were already sitting with him, Maurice looked very drained and had his head resting on his hand, not seeming very interested in conversation which Scorpius supposed would make Rose happy. Scorpius was surprised however when Rose smirked and prodded Maurice to get his attention, he cast the redhead a glare before finally putting a hand to his translator necklace.

"What?" Maurice demanded, irritably breaking through his normal neutral expression.

"Did you hear about Lysander Scamander being rescued?" Rose asked him with a sweet smile.

"Obviously, I read the papers. What about it?"

"What did your daddy say about it? Was he upset that one of the children he kidnapped got away? Its only a matter of time before they get Lorcan too and throw Roman Rivers into a deep dark hole where he belongs."

"Firstly, my father had _nothing_ to do with those abductions and secondly, whose 'they'? Your idiot father and the bumbling band of the rest of the sorry excuse of the Auror department? Lysander Scamander was saved by forces unknown while Aurors were too busy throwing innocent old ladies out of windows," Maurice countered and Rose's eyes blazed with anger but she seemed to make an effort to reign it in.

"So its just a coincidence that they went missing two weeks before their tenth birthday? Two weeks before Roman's tenth birthday his parents were killed."

"Grasping at empty air, much?"

"No!" Rose snapped, "he's involved, everyone knows it and he's going down."

"My father's a good man, he would never do anything like that," Maurice stated defensively which earned him strange looks from Corin and Michael.

"Whether he's involved or not, Roman is not a good person, Maurice, you have to realize this," Corin pointed out quietly and Maurice narrowed his eyes at his closest friend darkly.

"You're just jealous that my father's a better man than yours."

"Don't you insult Hagrid!" Albus snapped, joining what Scorpius realized was quickly escalating into an argument.

"I wasn't, I was just saying my father's better. Wait so what? Its okay for everyone to insult my father and tell malicious lies but if I defend him and I'm a bad person?"

"You and your father are both bad people."

"Okay everyone calm down right now," Michael intervened firmly in a no-nonsense tone, eying them with his mismatched eyes, "honestly, you've been back five minutes and you're already trying to tear each other to shreds, you should be ashamed of yourselves. Stop it right now, if you haven't got anything nice to say then just don't say anything at all. Its innocent until proven guilty, back off and calm down all four of you before I have to knock your heads together, don't you think that I won't if I need to knock some sense into you."

"Yes _mother,_" Albus grumbled before smiling as he clapped the muggle-born on the back, "I missed you, Michael."

"Make up your mind! Is it Michael or mother?" Michael wondered with a smile as Albus laughed, the tension seemed successfully diffused at least, "so how was your Christmases?"

They started talking about their holidays once more, Scorpius had already heard it except for Maurice and Corin, Maurice went back to not paying attention to them and Corin was mostly talking about how fantastic Beauxbatons was again. He let his eyes drift over to the Hufflepuff instead, Orous and Vern were there, Orous was looking as depressed as ever as Vern tried to engage him in conversation as usual. He looked to the staff table of potential Shadow suspects, they were looking surprisingly solemn except for Rivers who seemed to be boring Professors Ashain and Hagrid once more which was typical. Scorpius smiled inwardly despite everything, the familiarity was comforting and he thought he finally understood what people meant when they talked about Hogwarts as a second home. Hogwarts felt more like a home in that moment that his actual home did, even though he was in the wrong house still. Not everyone there was against him, he had friends and adults he could trust. He smiled.

* * *

_The New Year dawned and with it Brutus' twenty-fifth birthday, it was bittersweet to remember how his bitch mudblood mother had brutally abandoned him like he was nothing but his father had taken him in despite his young age and his own parents' disapproval. He was glad for the date, it reminded him why he had joined the Death Eaters in the first place, to save his father's life. His grandfather would say that money was the most important thing but Brutus had plenty of that, there were only few people he cared about and they were infinitely more valuable, protecting them was more important than anything else. He was doing the right thing being a Death Eater, no matter what the cost it was worth it to protect his family._

_Brutus didn't hear from the Death Eaters most of the month actually, he thought Rodolphus was probably mad at him for losing it with Selwyn or blaming him for what happened or something. Not that he minded, it gave him time to work on trying to help his father get over his fears. Gradually he seemed to be winning the battle, convincing his father to eat food that he didn't hunt and getting him to sleep if Brutus 'kept watch over the mansion in case of attack' which was an improvement. He thought that Atticus and himself spending time with the man probably feel safer, neither of them were off in danger and his father seemed noticeably more panicky when Atticus went back to work again. There was nothing Brutus could do for that, Atticus was stubborn._

_Brutus did get back to work for the Death Eaters though, some executions with Achan and some guard duty with the twins, he hardened his heart for the executions and softened it for the twins. He felt part responsible for not just for their protection but their well-being in general, thanks to him and Rabastan they had more free reign in their new location as they were allowed to go bathe whenever they wanted, allowed to take books to read - to improve their literacy - or the paper, they still had mattresses to sleep on with blankets and pillows along with now a couch to sit on instead of the floor, gotten new clothes - their current ones had gotten too small - and they both still insisted on not eating meat. It wasn't the perfect living situation for them but gradual improvement was better than them sleeping on concrete ground in filthy rags._

_He'd also started trying to teach Sal to use simple spells with a wand again, using a wand he'd taken from one of his victims because he wasn't risking his own. He still found he had success, admittedly it took Sal longer to grasp it but when she succeeded it was with much more power than you'd expect from even an experienced witch or wizard using the spell. When she succeeded he also tended to have to switch wands because the one she used retained damage like his one had with the wand-lighting charm, he couldn't very well have wands stolen from people he killed repaired without arousing suspicion. He couldn't do that with Tommy though, he didn't have the authority to send away his Dementor guards even if he wanted to risk trying to channel Tommy's impressive yet terrifying power into something more useful. Mostly with Tommy, he just tried to talk to the boy to keep his spirits up, he still loved hearing about Brutus' time at Hogwarts or things with his family._

_The twins also asked about his own family, his parents, also the Tonkses - for their blood traitor aunt - and the Malfoys as Narcissa had managed to escape the Auror's wrath by claiming to have left before the battle began and her son backed her up. Brutus hated when they did ask, Lucius and Narcissa made it very obviously clear they didn't like them or even consider themselves related, Draco and the Tonkses didn't even know they existed and their parents lack of visitation spoke volumes - although he was told Bellatrix visited them to make sure they were settled. It wasn't particularly fun being the bearer of bad news, he couldn't force their family to treat them better or care about them though. Maybe they'd have had a chance if they were Rodolphus' children of being accepted but their father was Lord freakin' Voldemort, the Dark Lord barely even looked human anymore so it was natural to assume his progeny weren't either._

_Time marched on, winter soon turned to spring and Brutus realized it had been over a year since he'd been recruited by the Death Eaters. Brutus felt more at ease in his routine, you had to adapt but not completely, he was still very aware of Atticus' side in the war and still worried over the Shadows of Dementors. He was afraid to ask if Sal had had any luck requisitioning control from Tommy, in truth he didn't really want to know but either way he still felt the cold from the house the twins were kept. _

_Brutus came to take his duty to guard them one day in May, Tommy was being 'trained' by Rodolphus leaving him only Sal who was looking through the collection of books in the library room. Sal was taking advantage of her freedoms, she bathed often enough so that her hair was no longer constantly in need of a wash and had been allowed grow it longer so now it was in rolling black waves that cascaded to her shoulders. The new clothes she had been given were still black and still male clothes which were identical to Tommy's new clothes - only his bad been ripped open at the forearm to show his Dark Mark scar - but it was no longer difficult to tell the difference between the two, adolescence had started shaping her into a woman. Tommy had grown taller but not to his full adult height - unless he was destined to be a short man - but hadn't changed aside from that, in fact he barely look thirteen let alone nearly fifteen.  
_

_"You know its fascinating these books," Sal announced drawing Brutus' attention back to her, "history especially, I think because its so boring at Hogwarts taught by that ghost Binns you've mentioned that people stop looking into it so much, they don't realize the wealth of knowledge and power lost through time."_

_"You could be right there," Brutus agreed thinking about all the magical artifacts in existence._

_"I know I am. And even better thanks to Tommy and I screwing up our memories, I can remember every word I read, I can use the memory to my advantage. You see, Father's going to lose this war because... well there's just too many flaws in his plans and will have nothing left but us, then he'll have to pay attention to me and he'll see that I have good ideas, plausible, rational ideas and a solid plan to conquer the world. He's smart and he'll recognize it as good and recognize that I'm good too, Mother will realize she was wrong to underestimate me all this time, they'll finally love me," Sal explained and Brutus felt his heart cringe for her, somehow he couldn't imagine Voldemort doing that, "you don't think that'll happen though, do you?"_

_"Honestly? No. I don't think its likely and if Voldemort does lose then he'll probably die not live to fight another battle."_

_"That's why I have a contingency plan," Sal pointed out with a smirk as he cocked her head to one side, "strike out on my own and take the world for myself, my parents can't say that's not impressive. The world's a terrible place, I could do a much better job with it and get the respect I deserve in the process. How's that for living up to my potential?"_

_"You say it like world domination is easy."_

_"Its not easy, Brutus, I'm not stupid. But with enough planning and thought, if I can get the Shadows of Dementors under my control - and I'm gaining progress with that - then I know I can do it. I'll need good followers behind me though, Rabastan's already on board but I want you. Do you want to join me?"_

_"Join you?" Brutus repeated dubiously while Sal picked up the book and headed towards the door to go back down to the basement, "don't get me wrong, I don't think lowly of you but... well..."  
_

_"Its alright, I understand your doubts. I'm fourteen for another month and still in captivity with abnormal magic, this must goal seem slightly unreachable at the moment. In time you'll see though."_

* * *

Calderon drew their attention with another frustratingly high-pitched whistle that bothered a few ears, Scorpius didn't mind though, he didn't see or hear enough of Calderon these days. It was effective though, the scraps from the meal were being magically sent back to the kitchens for the house-elves and everyone just about ready for bed, every eye in the hall turned to him at the whistle though.

"Welcome back everyone," Calderon offered cheerfully as he stood but his expression was serious, he flicked his wrist and an image of Professor Trelawny hovered in the air, "as you may or may not know depending on whether you read the papers, one of the Hogwarts staff died over the Christmas break, our Divination professor, Sybill Trelawny, who was with the school for longer than I've been alive and fought for the school in the Battle of Hogwarts. Her death has been ruled an accident, the Aurors decided she really did just trip over her robes after working herself up into a state. It is very tragic and very sad, she will be missed by those who knew her. All Divination classes are currently suspended to give you time to mourn and for us to find someone else to teach the class - its not easy recruiting over the holidays - so in the meantime you get free periods. And that is all, you are free to go. Take care and sleep well and I bid you goodnight."

Calderon being Calderon, naturally bowed as they started shuffling out of the hall. Scorpius was stunned, he hadn't known a professor had died and found himself regretting not reading the papers in his isolation to keep up with the current events. He asked Michael about it as they headed back to their dormitory, Michael pretty much just confirmed what Calderon had said, she had fallen to her death and the Aurors thought it was an accident but apparently they'd been slated in the paper for 'killing' her. Scorpius didn't think it was an accident though, a Shadow Auror had probably killed her because she saw or heard something she shouldn't of. Sadly he ruled her out as the Shadow staff member and silently wished her a pleasant afterlife as he clambered into his bed, still finding himself feeling oddly safe despite knowing murderers walked the halls and slipped into sleep.


	48. II: Life Goes On

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_I can't help but feel more staff is gonna die, am I wrong?_**  
_I can't tell you if you're wrong or right, Trelawny is far from the last person in the series to die though_

**_Is Trewlany's death gonna make Albus obsess over Viperia's safety?_**  
_Not right now but later_

**_She tripped over her ropes? _**  
_Tripped over her robes_

* * *

_Brutus would have liked to been able to guard the twins on their fifteenth birthday so he could wish them a happy birthday, maybe sneak in some chocolate for them to try or something because it wasn't like they would get any presents or normal birthday cheer. But as luck would have it - or possibly just Rodolphus not liking how he'd protected Tommy on their birthday the previous year - he wasn't on guard duty that day but assigned to another assassination with Achan._

_It started off like normal, they burst in on the target - some mudblood woman - and Achan started torturing her for fun while Brutus watched in disgust, secretly hoping Achan would stop and kill her himself for once so Brutus wouldn't have to step in. He was feeling more sympathetic that day since it was the twins' birthday, Tommy would really hate that he was just standing by and letting her be tortured. Brutus stepped in sooner than usual, flicking his wrist and firing the jet of green to end her life._

_He heard a childlike gasp that froze his heart, glancing in the direction of the sound he saw a little boy hiding behind the couch watching with tear filled eyes. He hadn't been told the target had a child, if they did then Brutus made sure they only attacked when the kid(s) weren't home and it worked pretty well thus far. The boy knew he'd been spotted and tried to run, Achan noticed him too and drew him magically back to them with a cruel smirk on his face that made Brutus wonder why he was friends with him._

_"Well, well, what do we have here?" Achan said to the poor terrified child who only looked about six, Brutus felt his heart twist even further as he was reminded of Atticus, "what are you doing here, kid?"_

_"Being babysitted," the boy answered in a tiny voice as tears leaked from his eyes._

_"Well ain't that a shame, why don't we send you down to see your babysitter now after I teach you what happens to naughty boys who socialize with mudbloods."_

_Achan raised his wand and Brutus didn't hesitate to reach out and grab his friend's wrist, yanking it back so forcefully Achan cried out in pain. Brutus hadn't meant to hurt him, he hadn't been entirely control of his snaking arm but he couldn't just watch an innocent little child suffer. Achan looked at him wide-eyed in shock while the boy looked at him wide-eyed in fear._

_"I'm not going to let you torture a child," Brutus told him quietly and Achan knew better to provoke him when he spoke quietly._

_"We have to kill him though, he can identify us," Achan pointed out but Brutus didn't lax his grip, he glanced at the scared boy and made a decision he knew he would live to to regret._

_"I'm not letting you kill him either. We erase his memories and leave or just leave."_

_"Fine we'll erase his memories but they'll probably undo it, you realize that right?" Achan grumbled in defeat and Brutus finally let go of his wrist, Achan rubbing it furiously._

* * *

Scorpius found he didn't have a lot of time to worry about figuring out who the Shadow member of staff was as even after the first day, he found himself buried in homework, apparently everyone was starting to prepare them for the exams that naturally weren't until June. He, Abby, Albus and Michael were in the library as soon as lessons ended - Rose was with Copper and his friends - trying to get through the pile of work. He did try look for strange behavior in the teachers and even the librarian, Grant was as passive aggressive to him and Michael as usual but now he knew why it wasn't proof he was a Shadow, Florian and the librarian was still cool, Vipera still seemed calm and had Albus drooling and the only different thing about Professor Longbottom was the prosthetic arm he was now sporting. Nothing that screamed they were evil and working with the Shadows.

"Hey," Molly greeted them and slipped into a spare seat at their table, Scorpius jolted in shock but couldn't not return her smile, "so... I was talking to Marigold."

"Who the hell is Marigold?" Albus wondered in confusion.

"The Hogwarts Head Healer," Michael answered for him and Albus snorted with amusement.

"_Marigold_."

"He's not that bad, he just... complains kind of a lot, wasn't happy that I stayed because it meant he had too because there needs to be a healer around with any students but I think his heart's in the right place. Y'know he's only forty?"

"Yeah I don't care about that, his name's _Marigold_," Albus repeated with a snicker.

"You are really immature sometimes," Abby pointed out with a shake of her head.

"Well anyway, I was talking to him," Molly continued getting back on track and Scorpius realized Michael seemed to be the target of her conversation, "and he says you should be fine to fly again if you want to so... do you want to or do you want more time?"

"I only have one working eye, don't you think I'd be more of a hindrance than a help?" Michael said quietly.

"No I don't. You have talent and that doesn't just go away with losing one eye, getting a prosthetic will make up for it anyway and in the meantime you can still adapt."

"But I can't be good."

"Well we won't know until you start coming back to practice, will we?"

"Yeah and you can use my _Cloudcutter_ as much as you want," Albus added sounding almost desperate for Michael to accept rather than only reluctantly doing it as he had been before, Michael shot him an oddly cold look at this though.

"I don't think I have time for practice anyway," Michael pointed out, "with all this work and I'm having extra sessions with Vipera to improve my Potions because she doesn't want my Dyslexia to hold me back."

"_What?!_"

"When do you have these sessions?" Molly asked, both of them opting to ignore Albus' oddly high-pitched exclaim of surprise.

"Sunday afternoons," Michael informed her and Molly's smile returned.

"Alright, I can work around that. No Sunday afternoons. Schedule should be up tomorrow, don't forget to check those notice boards. You too Scor, Hufflepuff are a very defensive team and we need to practice playing against that. See you both then. Good day to the rest of you."

"I still didn't say yes," Michael protested but Molly was walking away, he wore a worried expression.

"Well I think you should have said something, now it seems like she's expecting you," Abby pointed out and Michael sighed resignedly.

"Screw that," Albus interrupted in his normal voice, "what do you mean you're having sessions with Vipera?!"

"I'm pretty sure you heard me," Michael told him with a shrug, "Vipera thinks she can help me improve because she thinks my Dyslexia is holding me back but hasn't the time in class to help me alone so she's giving me extra sessions on Sunday afternoons."

"And you're only mentioning this now?"

"You have only been back one day. Its not a big deal."

"Not a big deal? You know that I'm in love with her," Albus whined miserably, "you can't steal her from me."

"Al, I'm not 'stealing' her from you, she's helping me improve my Potions grade and that's all."

"That's how it starts but all those hours alone and you'll start dating."

"You're worse than Jack," Michael complained throwing up his arms, "I'm twelve and she's like thirty-eight and my teacher, she's a nice person but I have absolutely zero interest in dating her and I like someone else anyway. And she has absolutely zero interest in dating me or even you because for starters we're far too young and she likes someone else too."

"Really? Who does she like?"

"Someone whose an adult and not you. Try liking someone closer to your own age."

"Wait, who do you like then?" Abby wondered while Albus looked disappointed, Michael's face went red immediately as he looked down attempting to make his tangled mass of wild hair cover it up.

"No one."

"Its Vipera, isn't it?" Albus questioned immediately, "dammit I knew it."

"Its not Vipera!"

"But it is someone," Scorpius prodded, he had been wondering about it for awhile.

"Someone whose not Vipera."

"Then who?" Abby wondered.

"I'm not saying," Michael said firmly with a note of finality, "so stop asking."

* * *

_Brutus was still feeling shaken by the nameless boy when he got home, he wished he could forget the terror in the boy's eyes, wished he could erase it from his own memory too. That was probably the same look Atticus had given the Death Eaters who killed his mother, the same way the twins had looked at him when they first realized he was a Death Eater, like he was a monster. It stung because he knew it was true. He hated it. He hated who he was. Whatever the reasons he justified to himself, it was still true. He wanted to drink himself into oblivion and forget altogether but he wanted something else even more so he forced himself to stay sober as he waited._

_Instead he found his father and hugged him tight, reminding himself why it was worth it. A part of him wanted to cry and mourn his lost soul, confess his crimes to his father so Aurelius could tell him it was alright. But he didn't. It was his burden to bear and he couldn't put that on his father. He was strong, he could take it, he'd chosen his path and he knew he would have to walk it._

_"I love you, Dad," was what he said instead._

_"I love you too, Bruti," his father affirmed._

_It took longer for Atticus to come home but eventually his brother did return, looking tired as he usually did whenever Brutus saw him, those Aurors would work him to death yet. Brutus blocked him from heading to his room to sleep though, Atticus just looked at him in surprise._

_"Something up?" Atticus wondered and Brutus sighed._

_"What? Can't spare five minutes for your brother?" Brutus complained._

_"I'm just tired and busy fighting a war. Don't take it personally," Atticus pointed out and Brutus resisted the urge to sigh as he pulled his younger brother into a hug instead._

_"I love you, Atty."_

_"I know... I love you too," Atticus offered awkwardly hugging him back, "are you drunk?"_

_"No. I just want you to know that I love you because even though I don't say it a lot I do, family is important to me, its the most important thing. You do know that right? No matter what happens, remember that, Atty, and don't let anyone ever tell you it wasn't true, okay?"_

_"Okay... Brutus, are you alright?"_

_"I'm proud of you too, you know that right? I don't like you being an Auror because I don't like you being in danger, not because I think in any way less of you. You defied our grandparents in becoming an Auror and that's something to be proud of, you got through the training and you risk your life everyday to do what you think is right to help other people because you're a good person and a talented wizard and that's something something to be proud of. You're the bravest man I know, Atty."_

_"Seriously, Brutus, are you alright?" Atticus wondered worriedly as he pulled away, not surprisingly Brutus supposed, he hadn't said anything like that since Atticus' suicide attempt and neither had Atticus. He didn't know how long it would take for them unlock the boy's memories but he had no doubt they would since they would know he had had his memory erased when they found him, his deformed appearance would make him easy to identify and then he'd either have to run to the Death Eaters for protection as he went into hiding. Assuming he could get safely away without being killed or taken to Azkaban by Aurors. Brutus forced a smile._

_"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just need a drink now," Brutus brushed it off as he started to walk away._

_"Wait!" Atticus called after him, Brutus glanced back in surprise at his nervous looking brother, "do you... do you want some company?"_

_"Weren't you going to get some sleep?"_

_"Yes well it can wait, I can spare more than five minutes for my brother."_

* * *

Scorpius still found himself swamped at the end of the first fortnight and actually felt guilty for not being able to more for Varanian, he had been keeping an eye on people as best he could but no one was acting really suspicious, Professor Koray seemed down but Scorpius knew he'd been quite close to Professor Trelawny so did that count as suspicious? How was he supposed to use his intuition to figure out who was a Shadow? If anything his instinct wanted to rule out most of them just because he liked them, he even wanted to rule out Rivers - despite disliking him - because he didn't think he was capable of being a Shadow let alone that they'd actually let him be in charge of people.

Of all the staff employed by the school he could at least rule out some for logical reasons, Professor McGonagall because she wasn't there, Professor Hagrid and Binns for not being human, Professor Trelawny because she was dead, Calderon because if they were in control of the school their problems would be solved also Calderon had done more to fight the Shadows than anyone and it was very obviously not him. Then there was also Professors Ashain and Longbottom because they'd both nearly been killed in Shadow attacks so he thought it was extremely unlikely they were Shadows but wasn't sure that was a good enough reason. He also didn't think Rivers was capable of being a secret Shadow leader, didn't think it was two of the five healers because they were only part time, didn't think it was Professor Koray or the librarian because he'd known them from the previous year and he didn't think they were bad. That left only the new people, he didn't think it was Florian because he was too nice and Eben didn't seem bright enough. It was strange for Vipera to be Shadow if she was helping Michael but then she could have an ulterior motive, he still didn't like Grant but that didn't make him guilty and he didn't know the others who taught electives. How did Varanian figure these things out?

Aside from that things weren't so bad, the Aurors numbers did seem to have decreased which was a relief. Abby and Albus seemed to be preferring his and Michael's company to Rose's Ravenclaws a lot more so he had the majority of his friends back, he hadn't gotten to speak to Orous yet though. Quidditch practices started again with Michael in attendance, he still wasn't using Albus' _Cloudcutter_ but he still had the talent for pushing their limits. His aim had gotten worse though, Molly was trying to work on that but his skills were salvageable. Michael had no comment on it and seemed tenser at practices, taking it more seriously like Latimer, than he had been before but at least he was back, Scorpius thought once he got used to it again that he would relax more.

It wasn't until the Friday of the second week that Scorpius realized how behind everyone else he was on Patronuses though, he'd been so focused on his that he hadn't paid attention to the others in the class but that class he did - he thought he might as well since he'd felt as drained as usual after casting the silver wisps of light the first week and wouldn't be in the mood for paying attention - and saw they were doing well. The silver wisps were now more like silver windows in size and lasted much longer, in fact if they were just a tad bigger he thought they would actually pass for incorporeal Patronuses or maybe they did already. Abby and the Slytherin who always forgot to put his hand up were both particularly good at it, Albus was average with most of class, Rose, Nott and Scorpius were probably the worst except Michael who never produced anything at all. He tried telling himself it was because of his wrist but it still bothered him, he wasn't used to failing or being the worst at something and he didn't like it. Not one bit.

He had a Quidditch practice with just after the class and while he didn't want to be too drained for it and let Molly down, he also wanted to do better at his Patronus. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, he was seeing Molly soon so he thought about her as he said the spell. Thinking about the time she'd held his hand leading him to the Quidditch pitch, her beautiful sky blue eyes on him and a smile lighting up her face, his scar felt like it was gnawing down on his wrist but he pushed it aside in favor of the memory-turned fantasy as he imagined what it must feel like to kiss her if holding her hand was that good, he brushed that strand of hair out from in front of her face and they leaned in for a kiss-

"Well done, Scor," Professor Ashain's voice made him snap open his eyes, his wisp of silver was more like a wave and he felt his face burning with humiliation that his fantasy had caused it as he let it go and lowered his arm, suddenly feeling like lowering his head on the desk with it to sleep, "don't be embarrassed, its good to make progress, I think you're finally catching up."

"Thanks," Scorpius managed to mumble out still not happy, Molly would think it was extremely creepy if she knew that fantasizing about holding her hand and kissing her improved his Patronus conjuring.

* * *

_"You know," Atticus began in slurred speech as he eyed the glasses the bartender was refilling, Brutus had lost track how many they'd had a long time ago, "the problems with being rich is we get used to the finer stuff so all this regular stuff tastes like absolute crap."_

_"Thanks," the bartender muttered sarcastically while Brutus laughed, he could agree with that._

_"You're welcome!" Atticus told him obliviously and leaned back in his stool so much so that he would have lost his balance and fell if Brutus hadn't grabbed him and pulled him back, "and you're welcome too, Brutus!"_

_"I thinks that you mean thank you," Brutus pointed out as they downed the refilled shot glasses of Firewhisky._

_"I said you're welcome."_

_"No I meant... nevermind, I forget what we were talking about. Hey get us some more of this crap, keepbar."_

_"I think you means barkeep."_

_"I just ordered more drinks, weren't you listening? Wait were you listening because I was serious about getting more."_

_"No I meant... nevermind, I forget," Atticus shrugged it off as the barkeeper refilled their glasses again, Atticus eyed it oddly, "d'y'think we've had much of this? I have to tomorrow work."_

_"I think you're gonna pretty hanging over," Brutus laughed again, "might as well make the most of it, should get you laid and just take the day offs."_

_"No, I'll just drink my crap," Atticus shook his head and raised his glass at the barkeeper, "you're welcome!"_

_"C'mon, just 'cause the last girl you asked out laughed at you when you were a kid is no reason to give up on girls for the rest of your life."_

_"She didn't just laugh at me, she mocked me and all her friends laughed at me. That was harsh."_

_"So she was a bitch, no reason to give up."_

_"I haven't gives up," Atticus protested as he downed his glass again, "fill it up, keepbarer!"_

_"You have, you're a quitter," Brutus told him as he downed his glass and shoved at barkeeper to refill as well which he did._

_"Brutus, I'm sorta seeing someone is why not 'acause I'm a quitter," Atticus explained and Brutus blinked in shock as Atticus raised his glass again, "you're welcome! Wait, why am I saying you're welcome again? Should I be it thank you? My mouth isn't listening to my brain."_

_"You're seeing someone? For how long?"_

_"Like..." Atticus said and counted his fingers, "months."_

_"Months isn't a number."_

_"Well I tried to count my fingers but there's so many fingers I can't keep track," Atticus laughed as he gulped down his drink, "how drink have I had to much?"_

_"Who are you seeing?"_

_"I can't tell you, that's why I didn't tell you. Wait did I tell you?"_

_"C'mon tell me unless she's not real. Not real people don't count."_

_"She's real but she doesn't want anyone to know so I can't tells you," Atticus explained and Brutus frustratedly handed him his full glass and pushed Atticus' empty one at the barkeeper to be refilled, "you're welcome! Or thank you please, whatever."_

_"So tell me, I won't tell anyone," Brutus promised as Atticus down the glass and Brutus immediately handed him the refilled one that Atticus also drank, "please, Atty."_

_"Sorry but no, told Syn I wouldn't."_

_"So her name's Syn?"_

_"How... D'you read my mind?!" Atticus burst out in amazement before scowling while Brutus pushed the glasses over to be refilled, "sins when were you a legill... legilliminuses... legimillamus... my mouth is till ignoring me."_

_"Yes so you might as well tell me what her full now or I'll just read it."_

_"Syntyche Emeralda Cistro."_

_"Wait, isn't that your bosses' name?"_

_"No, Gawain Robards is my boss, she's is just like my sub-supervisor boss or something. Wait, so I guess she is my boss in a way, I never know where I stand with her."_

_"Well that's interesting," Brutus mused as the barkeeper pushed the refilled glasses at them._

_"You're welcome!" Atticus called and downed his one, "I think I got it figures out how this works, eventually if burns off your taste buds 'acause its so so bad. Gonna going keep see if that happens. S'good to drink, I don't remember the last time I got breaked from fighting Death Eaters."_

_"Yeah," Brutus nodded and went to take his glass but Atticus had already taken it and was downing it._

_"Can't wait till this war is over and every last Death Eater is dead."_

_"Little harsh, Atty?"_

_"No. They tortured my mother and me then killed her when I was just a little kid, I've seen more than you and I know Eater Deaths aren't human, they're like Demented-tormentors, they just spawn from the scum of the Earth. I hate them all. And I won't quit being an Auror till they're all death. Its unforgivable."_

_"Hey refill these," Brutus snapped at the bartender but Atticus cringed._

_"I think I'm gonna be up throwed."_

_"Restroom's that way," the barkeeper stated as he jerked his thumb to the left, Atticus inclined his head in gratitude as he staggered off, Brutus was starting to feel that giving Atticus his last few shots might not have been the best idea he'd ever had._

_"Hey Brutus," a woman greeted him, taking Atticus' seat and he shivered violently as he opened his mouth to snap at her before he noticed that her eyes were black. Pitch black eyes, from the whites of her eyes through the iris to the pupil, it was all an indistinguishable mass of darkness that almost seemed to glow with shadowy darkness, "the eyes have it, eh? Its me, Sal, I'm just possessing this random woman."_

_"You're... what?!" Brutus wondered in shock and the woman smirked._

_"Using the Shadows, or Specters as I was thinking of calling them as you didn't like Shadows. Its not so difficult to figure out how to control them even when they're bound to Tommy when he's distracted by his torture and not paying attention to them or me, I'm testing our power and checking on you at the same time."_

_"You shouldn't be doing that, Sal, go back."_

_"I'm lying in my bed right now." _

_"You know what I mean Sal!" Brutus hissed before trying to lower his voice because he was wary of the bartender nearby serving someone else, "go back before someone finds out and you get in trouble, completely black eyes isn't exactly subtle."_

_"Fine," Sal agreed moodily, "since its you. And I think Tommy's being returned now anyway."  
_

_He saw the woman's head jerk back, a shadow shot away from her as she fell onto the floor. She looked confused for a moment before angrily getting to her feet and launching a verbal assault on the barkeeper for having 'improper' stools. Brutus downed both refilled glasses, he wanted to be drunk enough to not worrying about Shadows possessing people. Atticus returned just as the bartender had refilled their glasses, each taking one before they grinned drunkenly despite having nothing to smile about and clinked them together._

_"You're welcome!" the Ashain half-brothers said in unison as they downed the bitter liquid._

* * *

Scorpius found himself even more exhausted than he had been the other times he'd succeeded at the silver wisps, if Michael hadn't been talking to him while they were heading back to the dormitory that he might have just fell asleep on the floor, stone had never looked so appealing as a comfortable pillow. He threw himself onto the bed still fully clothed and without closing the drapes, in fact he was pretty sure Michael was mid-sentence about whatever he'd been talking about when Scorpius hit the pillow and was gone. The next time he opened his eyes it was Saturday afternoon, Michael had also kindly closed his drapes and gotten him into the blankets. He might have fallen back asleep if his friends hadn't been worried about him so he settled for getting up and just going to bed early, he still woke up late on Sunday thought although not as late as Saturday.

Scorpius was feeling more normal by Monday though or maybe it was just because he didn't have a choice but to get up early, he'd still rather have been sleeping but he wasn't fighting to keep his eyes open at least. He still didn't say much as they made it to breakfast in a imperfect mood, Charms was definitely not the best class for a Monday morning. He got another letter from his parents, he wished they'd stop sending them when he didn't want to talk to them, wasn't the extremely short one word answers a hint? He shook his head at them as the bell for the first class sounded, before everyone could start shuffling out though, Calderon gave his high-pitched whistle.

"All second years stay behind for a few moments!" Calderon called to the hall, there was confused muttering as the non-second year students started filing out while Scorpius and the others sat back down to be out of the way, Calderon waited until the others were all gone - or probably more likely so the noise of the footfall wouldn't interrupt him - before explaining himself, "don't look so worried, you're not in trouble. As you probably know, this is the year you choose your electives for the next three years. There's five in total but you don't have to take all five, you have to take a minimum of two but can take more if you desire, I will work out the schedule to fit everything so have no fear.

"The subjects you can choose from are Care of Magical Creatures, Arithimancy, Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies and Divination. You probably have no idea what half of those mean which is why you will have an hour taster session for each of them to give you a better understanding of what you're signing up for although you don't have to choose until Easter. Every Saturday for the next five fortnights come to the Great Hall at midday for an hour taster session, this week its Care of Magical Creatures. Attendance is not mandatory but highly recommended and of course, also those who attend will of course be given extra time allowances on homework assignments for that week due to losing an hour of your free time so don't worry about that. Got it? Good. Have a nice day."


	49. II: Tasters

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

* * *

Everyone in second year was excited for the taster sessions, Scorpius was extremely doubtful that anyone would miss them. He was looking forward to it, it would give him a chance to see the staff he didn't know and he was as curious as everyone else about what the electives were like, it would be nice to get a glimpse instead of choosing blindly at Easter. Saturday couldn't have come soon enough and Scorpius, Albus, Abby, Michael and Rose headed off to the Great Hall eagerly.

"This is exciting, I can't wait to see what Hagrid's lessons are like," Rose was saying with a skip in her step, "Mum said to tell her everything about it because they didn't have taster sessions at school."

"That's because its Calderon's idea," Michael pointed out as they rounded the bend and Scorpius saw one of the Aurors was talking to Orous who was starting to cry, "he's noticed students kind of pick without knowing the subjects then regret their choices later on and wish they'd picked something else when they found out more about them."

"Hey!" Scorpius snapped darkly drawing his wand and stalking over to them, "you're supposed to be protecting students not making them cry, back off!"

"Its okay, he wasn't doing anything to me," Orous told him quietly wiping his crimson eyes and the Auror nodded in agreement but his expression was dark and stoic, "I was already upset. I was just leaving."

"Aren't you Aurors supposed to stay in pairs?" Michael added and the look the Auror gave him was murderous.

"Because mu-muggle-borns know everything about how the magic system works," the Auror growled.

"He's right though," Albus spoke up, "my father's Head Auror so I do know what I'm talking about."

"My partner's on a bathroom break, alright?! Why are you giving me the third degree for seeing what was wrong with the crying child?" the Auror shook his head and walked off, muttering under his breath about 'stupid kids.'

"Geez, Scor, was drawing your wand really necessary?"

"Can't take any chances after they killed Professor Trelawny," Scorpius said defensively as he put his wand away.

"He wasn't one of the ones with Trelawny when she died though, I saw them, they're both not on Hogwarts protection duty now anyway," Michael pointed out before turning to Orous, "are you alright?"

"Yes..." Orous whispered before glancing at Scorpius with a neutral expression before staring back to his feet, "can I talk to you alone for just a minute, though?"

"Sure," Scorpius agreed hesitantly, it was the first time they'd spoken to Orous since realizing he was the voice. He waved his friends on to go on without him, Orous waited until they were out of earshot before speaking.

"I'm sorry I screamed all those things at you," Orous apologized sadly, "I shouldn't have lost my temper like that."

"Its okay, I don't blame you for being angry with me. I'm angry with me," Scorpius said finding his voice coming out equally quietly as the guilt blanketed him once more, "I really am sorry, I'd give anything to take it back."

"You were just eleven, its not your responsibility to help anyone. Its hypocritical of me to be mad at you for not helping me when I've done nothing to help anyone either, I don't know how I could but still. I want us to get along again, I miss hanging out with Michael, Vern and you when we would do our homework in the library together."

"I want us to get along again too," Scorpius agreed with a weak smile that Orous didn't return but he did nod, he didn't think he'd ever seen Orous smile, "I have to go to the taster session but I'll catch up with you later. Try and find Vern, Maurice or Corin so the Aurors can't get you alone, they're not safe to be around."

"They wouldn't kill me, Scorpius, they're not that kind," Orous said sadly as he continued away and Scorpius worriedly continued on to the Great Hall, at least they were on speaking terms again so he could try help Orous with his issues.

Scorpius arrived at the Great Hall - thankfully - before Professor Hagrid had gotten there, Rose had gone off to stand with Copper and the Ravenclaws but the rest of his friends were still together as he joined them. They were still standing close enough to each other for Scorpius to catch the look of disgust Copper shot Michael, it made Scorpius' wrist burn and he was seriously tempted to draw his wand on the stuck-up Ravenclaw before Professor Hagrid arrived and the room went quiet as the half-giant cleared his throat.

"Well hullo there!" Professor Hagrid greeted them brightly, "fer those o' yeh who don' know me, I'm Professor Rubeus Hagrid an' I teach Care of Magical Creatures here at Hogwarts. What the class is abou' is pretty much in the name, if yeh take this class yeh'll be studying magical creatures, learnin' abou' them and their life cycles, lore about them and how they're used or wha' parts o' them have magical properties, yeh'll also be learnin' how to manage, feed and care for them. Yeh'll learn abou' a variety o' creatures, from little things like Flobberworms to majestic beasts like Unicorns to more dangerous like Salamanders and plenty o' things in between. The class takes place outdoors - unless the weather is really bad - because its a really practical hands on class... And that's pretty much all I wanted to say so let's get on outside now, c'mon everyone!"

Professor Hagrid gestured with his hand for them to follow as he headed outside, most people talking excitedly amongst themselves although Scorpius heard Copper complaining about having to go outside. The professor led them to the lawn just outside the Forbidden Forest, Scorpius' heart leaped when he saw a Thestral was emerging and heading towards a metal bucket that Professor Hagrid grabbed up quickly before turning back to them with a grin on his face, the Thestral didn't seem to share the professor's delight and continued to eye the bucket.

"For this taster, I'm showin' you Thestrals. Because o' wha' happened at the memorial, more o' yeh than ever can see these beauties so whether or not yeh take the class I though' it would be good to introduce yeh to them since they pull the carriages. Firstly is there anyone who can't see them?" Professor Hagrid began and only a handful of people raised their hands, Copper was one of them although none of his friends did, "for those o' yeh who can't see, Thestrals are huge winged horses with skeletal black bodies and leathery wings, they've white eyes. The mos' unusual thing abou' them though is tha' they can only be seen by those who've seen death.

"This gives them a bi' of a dark reputation and some mistakenly believe they're unlucky or a bad omen but tha' is not the case, seriously misunderstood creatures Thestrals. They're dead clever and useful, I'm proud to say here at Hogwarts we have the largest herd o' domesticated Thestrals in the UK. This here is Tenebrus, the firs' Thestral born here in the Forest. And the nosiest," Professor Hagrid added as Tenebrus nudged the bucket, he reached into it to pull out a scrap of raw bloody meat that he dangled in front of the Thestral, Tenebrus made a shrill sound before taking the meat and gulping it down eagerly, "they're carnivores, Thestrals, and attracted to the smell o' blood. They're not really dangerous though, won't attack or bite yeh unless provoked and see yeh as a threat but yeh can say tha' fer just about any creature. Anyone volunteer to feed Tenebrus?"

"I will!" Scorpius said in unison as his hand shot up into the air eagerly.

"Well done, Scorpius, c'mon here then," Professor Hagrid agreed with a grin as Scorpius moved over to him and Tenebrus, he placed the bucket down at his feet and picked out another piece of meat that he handed to Scorpius, "now yeh saw what I did before, jus' offer it out to him and wait for him to take it, okay?"

"Okay," Scorpius nodded in understanding and held out the slippery slab of meat for the Tenebrus who made the same shrill sound before gently taking it, it contrasted greatly with the greedy way he gulped it down, Scorpius smiled, "why does he make that sound when he takes it?"

"Oh, he's jus' thankin' yeh for the food. Jus' keep at it or he'll eat the whole bucke' o' stuff while I'm distracted, yeh're doing great," Professor Hagrid said still smiling as he turned back to the class while Scorpius picked up another piece to carry on feeding the Thestral, "and I hope the rest o' yeh are payin' attention as yeh'll have a chance to feed the rest o' the herd in a minute if yeh want, if yeh don't yeh can jus' watch. So as I was sayin' they only attack if provoked, loyal creatures they are to each other and their owners. Some o' the older ones like here Tenebrus here actually fought in the Battle o' Hogwarts for us - that scar on his left flank is from defendin' this school - and they're actually trained to defend students if anyone where t' attack yeh in the carriages.

"They're dead clever as I said, can distinguish friend from foe. They can fly and can be ridden as they fly, they're fast and got a fantastic sense o' direction and can get to where their rider wants, they can also learn to obey some basic commands from the rider. Like this," Professor Hagrid stopped speaking and a second later Scorpius felt himself lifted into their and deposited onto Tenebrus' back, the Thestral grunted but didn't fight it while Scorpius just looked at the professor in shock, "well yeh did volunteer and I think he likes yeh, they don't usually thank strangers. Now go on, walk around a bit."

At this, Professor Hagrid grabbed another piece of meat and threw it an impressive distance to the right. Tenebrus gave an incredibly shrill shriek and eagerly started to run towards it, Scorpius was nearly thrown in surprise and grabbed the Thestral's mane desperately to stop himself falling.

"Slow down!" Scorpius yelped and the beat immediately slowed to a less life-threatening pace, Scorpius' heartbeat relaxed with it as Tenebrus reached the piece of meat, stopping to grab it and toss it up in the air to gobble it down, "let's head back."

Scorpius wasn't sure if it was actually understanding his words or instinctively knew what he wanted like owls but either way, Tenebrus turned around and started walking back to the professor and the rest of class who watched with looks of amazement or awe, some looked more more nervous and Copper just looked confused. Professor Hagrid seemed to have been speaking more about Thestrals but paused to clap his hands and congratulate Scorpius before throwing another scrap of meat.

This time Tenebrus started towards it at the pace that Scorpius had preferred although he sensed it would rather go faster, the third time Professor Hagrid threw the meat he urged Tenebrus to go faster and just held on tight. It was actually rather fun when you were actually prepared, he let Tenebrus go faster and faster each time until one time he smirked and dared the Thestral to fly to grab the meat in mid-air. Tenebrus shot into the sky immediately and snapped the meat up before it had time to fall back to the ground, Scorpius laughed with delight and took Tenebrus across the lake and over the edge of the forest, finally letting Tenebrus circle a few times around the class before bringing him back down to earth when he noticed other Thestrals emerging from the forest. Tenebrus went over to them and nuzzled one of them affectionately, Professor Hagrid went to get more meat from the inside of his hut and instructed the others to feed the herd. Scorpius was still found himself plastered with a smile, he knew which class he would _definitely_ be choosing for next year.

Scorpius was still in a good mood from the Thestral flight, Thestrals were awesome and flying was awesome so combined it was fantastic. In general things actually seemed to be looking up, less Aurors, Michael back on the team, Abby and Albus spending time with them again, Orous talking to him again and even Molly was spending more time with him outside of practice rather than with Nick, rumor had it they had fallen out over Nick dancing with other girls or something at the Yule Ball. Scorpius was afraid to ask and he wondered if he was a bad person for wishing it was true and they'd break up, at least a part of him hoped that. He tried to tell himself it didn't matter, Nick or no Nick the odds of her ever dating him were right down there with Albus' odds of dating Vipera or Michael revealing his mystery crush.

He still didn't know who was a Shadow member of staff though but he thought the other taster sessions would help determined that, not knowing them put them high on his list of potential suspects. Except Divination, they hadn't got a replacement yet and even if they did he or she wouldn't be the Shadow person he was looking for, they could still be a Shadow though he supposed but not the one he was after in that moment. After the excitement of the Care of Magical Creatures taster lesson, he was disappointed to learn the next one was Arithmancy with Rivers. Albus and Rose had actually considered not attending, disliking him from the Christmas he'd spent with them and the way he'd treated Lucy. Scorpius didn't like him either but that didn't mean the subject was bad. Plus Rivers was still a suspect, even if Scorpius didn't think it was likely.

The Arithmancy taster was at the end of the first week of February and Scorpius arrived with his friends feeling much less enthusiastic, instead of being empty this time the hall was filled with chairs so they sat at the closest ones to the entrance which was at the very back. Albus had just slouched back lazily when Rivers entered, spotting them immediately as he scowled.

"What are you doing sitting at the back?" Rivers wondered shaking his head and pulling Albus to his feet, "come now, you and Rosie are practically family and you shouldn't be sitting at the back, family need to support each other and I need support. Calderon's making me sacrifice an entire hour of my life to do this stupid thing and making me mark all my own homeworks and he won't make me a Head of any house or give me a pay raise, its like he deliberately has a vendetta against me when I've been nothing but kind to the crazed lunatic but he's determined to make my life a living hell. And you too Scorpius, you can sit at the front too because I know how much you admire me and you girl because your father is a teacher. Come now, the faster you walk the faster this is over."

"You... just... _what?!_" Albus demanded frustratedly but Rivers was already heading towards were the staff table was usually located.

"Just go with it or he'll make us stay here longer," Scorpius pointed out as the five of them trudged up the room where the seats on the front row were actually already taken.

"Go on, shoo," Rivers said to the closest four - who happened to be Copper and his friends - and actually made dismissive sweeping movements with his hands, "more important people than you have to sit here."

"But I was here first," Copper whined looking stunned while his friends moved to obey.

"Well I'm the teacher and I say go, sit somewhere else," Rivers told him firmly shooing him again.

"Just go with it, there's no reasoning with him, he's nuts," Rose whispered to her boyfriend who scowled as he moved away with his friends, actually freeing up six spaces that they took while Rivers shot Michael an exasperated look.

"I didn't mean you! The things I have to put up with," Rivers moaned throwing his hands up in the air as he moved over to where the staff table usually was but now it instead held two chalkboards, finally turning to address the hall, "my name is Aubrey Abidos Rivers, a pure-blood and I teach Arithmancy. Arithmancy comes from two Greek words, 'arithmos' meaning numbers and 'manteia' meaning divination because Arithmancy is the study of divination through numbers. Unlike Divination, Arithmancy is based of numbers and logic and fact rather than... well let's be honest, lunatic dreams. There are too basic methods we use, the Agrippan method and the Chaldean method which I will outline briefly for you now..."

Scorpius was both bored and confused, Arithmancy - or maybe just Rivers' explanation - was very difficult to follow, his lecture wasn't droning like Binns or Eben but still managed to suck your mind out with a jumble of nonsensical number babble. Scorpius eventually just fell asleep, he was tired from the Patronus lesson the previous day. He only woke up when a more interesting voice than Rivers shattered his slumber.

"Well done, Aubrey, you actually managed to make Arithmancy sound less interesting than History of Magic," a woman's voice said and Scorpius woke with a confused start, realizing that Albus was sleeping on his shoulder he angrily jabbed his friend awake who mumbled something intelligible in confusion as he looked around but Scorpius' attention was already drawn to the woman coming over to them with a self-satisfied smirk on her face, "if I don't get Divination professor maybe I can just take your job before you bore another year of kids into oblivion."

Rivers just gaped at the woman for a moment, she was maybe slightly shorter than average height with long black hair curled in coils streaming out from beneath the red bandana she wore. She was rather delicate looking and using a thin long stick as a strange cane but a glance at her eyes answered why. She had none, there was just empty sockets. It was slightly disturbing but she was pretty aside from that maybe Calderon's age, she wore a long brightly colored dress despite being clearly blind.

"Elina?" Rivers got out when he'd recovered from the shock enough to speak, "what are you doing here?"

"An interview for Divination professor," the woman - most likely Elina - stated, "I just got distracted when I heard you butchering the subject I taught you."

"What are you talking about? My lecture was flawless."

"Flawlessly boring."

"Well it wasn't aimed at you anyway," Rivers complained sounding flustered.

"Was it aimed at the sleeping children?"

"They're not sleeping," Rivers insisted and Scorpius glanced at his friends, Abby and Michael were also watching the exchange with interest as was Albus although sleepily, Rose was asleep with her head resting on Michael's shoulder, Abby nudged her awake and she looked around sleepily, "I'm sure that has nothing to do with my lecture, she's just exhausted from having to be awake so early on the weekend."

"Keep telling yourself that, Aub," Elina commented with a sly smile as she started heading back towards the exit, "now if you'll excuse me I have an interview."

"If he hires her then I'll know Calderon is deliberately trying to make my life miserable," Rivers said to no one in particular, looking upset as he stalked off into the door leading to the side room off the great hall.

"I hope Calderon hires her," Albus added with a grin, "then I'll know he's trying to make my life awesome."

"What was that all about?" Rose wondered sleepily.

"You mean the lecture on Arithmancy or the exchange with Elina?" Michael asked her as she rubbed her eyes.

"Both."

"To both, I have no idea."

* * *

_"I'm really drunk," Atticus slurred almost intelligibly for the fifth of sixth time as they stumbled up the stairs back at the Ashain mansion, "did know you did that? I've tomorrow work to."_

_"I can barely not even understand what you're saying," Brutus pointed out also having trouble understanding himself, "maybe you're as dumbed as me now."_

_"You're not stupid, you're jus really lazy. If y'could actually be bothered then you'd be great, thas all, if you just put mind to your something then you're jus as smart as any of us."_

_"Y'know y'always keep saying that."_

_"Well I'm right and I'm really too drunk," Atticus laughed and staggered into the wall that Brutus pulled him back from, "and so're you!"_

_"G'night Atty," Brutus called as he headed down the other corridor to his room._

_"G'night!"_

_Brutus tried three different doors and a window before finally finding his room, he cursed it for being so big as he had to trek across what felt like an awful long walk. He was in good spirits though even though he'd been drinking particularly bad spirits, his mind was too mushed to even remember why he'd wanted to get drunk in the first place. He stripped to his underwear, dumping his clothes onto the floor for tomorrow's problem and threw himself into his bed, asleep before his head even touched the pillow..._

_"Brutus, wake up!" his father's voice snapped him back to reality, "Aurors are coming for you!"_

* * *

Scorpius supposed he could at least say that Arithmancy was over and done with, he still didn't think Rivers was capable of leading Shadow members though. The next class was finally with one of the teachers he didn't know for Study of Ancient Runes, like Rivers the room was set up with chairs but this time Scorpius deliberately sat near the front because he wanted to see the guy. Especially considering what he taught, considering the Shadows had used Blood Runes before and he taught the language.

The man who strode into the room wasn't the one that Scorpius had been expecting, the Study of Ancient Runes had made him think the teacher would probably be old but he only looked in his thirties but his skin looked pale as parchment. Scorpius recognized him vaguely from the staff table but he'd thought it was one of the healers not a teacher, he had long wavy light brown hair that looked faded but gave him an almost wild appearance, his eyes were a forest green, he had dirt under his fingernails but a smile on his face. His robes seemed to combine the aspects of his face as they were a faded forest green, he made Scorpius think oddly of a faded photograph.

"Hello, so you're the second years eh? Pleasure to meet you, the name's Orrin Lambert Kresmir. That's Kresmir with a 'k' not a 'c' and no 'h' even though its pronounced 'cresh'-mir. Weird I know but I didn't come up with the name, was just born with it," Kresmir introduced himself brightly and rather quickly, like he was trying to cram as many words as possible into a minute, "and I teach Study of Ancient Runes which is maybe slightly explanatory in the name, honestly I think they should call it Runology which makes it sound at least slightly less boring and at least slightly more mysterious, studying doesn't exactly make it sound fun. Which in truth it may not be to you, personally I find learning languages absolutely fascinating but for some people it just makes you want to smack your head against the wall until the words come pouring of your ear holes. However maybe fun doesn't matter to you, some careers this is an important thing to know or at least a useful thing to know."

Scorpius tried and failed not to find it interesting as Kresmir spoke about the different uses of runic in both the past and present, he also started talking very briefly about the history of Runic - there were actually three different runic alphabets and they were only the best known - before moving onto the runes themselves, taking out his wand and causing them to appear one by one as he went through them quickly.

"With any luck, you'll at least be able to recognize Runic when you see it and not confuse it with Chinese or Arabic or something random regardless whether you take this class or not which I think in itself is rather a useful skill, the last thing you really want is to be searching for a translation to the wrong language as you pour through the textbooks," Kresmir pointed out after he got through the last rune and flicked his wand again, this time a number of them appeared, "and that's my name in Runic. If anyone wants to introduce themselves then I'll show them their name in Runic, any takers?"

People started calling out their names which Kresmir dutifully translated in Runic, in fact people just started calling out random words or phrases they wanted to see translated. Scorpius thought it was actually a rather clever exercise, the more you saw the runes the more you got used to them, Scorpius at least started to notice the same ones cropping up for the same letters. He hoped Kresmir wasn't the Shadow because he actually wanted to take the subject, it was useful to know and Kresmir made it seem even more interesting.

They headed out of the taster session when Kresmir dismissed them, Scorpius leaving with his friends to head off to the library as they still had homework to do, even with time allowances it still needed to be done after all. Scorpius would have liked to talk about it but they had an agreement to just hold opinions on classes until they'd had all taster sessions and were choosing their electives. It would be a busy few weeks even with homework allowances, the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin match was the next Saturday, the next taster session the following week, the Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff match the week after followed by the final session the week after that.

"Hey guys over here!" Vern called them over happily as they entered the library, he and Orous were already at a table with spare seats that he gestured for them to sit at while being shushed by the librarian, he blushed and dropped his voice, "got a really hard essay for History of Magic if you feel up to helping, its hard to keep track of all these goblins names."

"Its History of Magic, it doesn't matter," Albus pointed out giving his cousin a dark look, "typical Dursley, leeching off others instead of just doing the damn work yourself."

"I'm not leeching," Vern protested looking upset.

"Are too and its not allowed, its practically cheating."

"No its not, since when?"

"Vern Dursley?" a voice questioned and the first year jumped as Grant and Professor Ashain came over to him, Vern looked on the verge of tears.

"I-I-I didn't know it was cheating, its not cheating in my other school."

"Whatever your talking about, its not about that," Professor Ashain pointed out gently, "you just need to go and see Acting Headmaster Calderon right now."

"Why? What-What did I do?!" Vern babbled anxiously but the professors didn't look angry, if anything they looked sympathetic.

"Its not something you did, you just need to go and see him right now... its really important."

"Come on I'll take you," Grant offered, "you're not in trouble."

"O-Okay," Vern agreed nervously as he got up to follow Grant away.

"Can you pack up his stuff, Mr Knox?" Professor Ashain said to Orous gesturing to the books and papers sprawled across the table that Vern had been working with.

"Is he getting expelled?" Albus wondered sounding just a bit too hopeful for Scorpius' liking.

"No, nothing like that. He's just probably not going to feel much like studying when he gets back."

"Why? What's going on?" Scorpius asked curiously and worriedly, all eyes on Professor Ashain with interest.

"Its not really my place to say... but you're going to find out anyway," Professor Ashain began slowly before sighing sadly, "Mr and Mrs Dursley were killed last night."


	50. II: Quiet

_**Thanks to: **Aya Diefair, Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

_**Questions:**_

**_I assume Harry and Ginny might be getting custody of Vern in?/Will they be moving in with the Potters?_**  
_Petunia and Harry will work out the custody for the three children by Easter  
_

**_What about the other children?_**  
_They weren't there when the attack happened, Daisy was at a sleepover and Malcolm was seeing a movie with friends. When Malcolm got home he found them dead_

* * *

"You can't be serious," Albus scoffed in shock but the professor looked perfectly serious, "the Dursleys were killed?"

"Who killed them?" Orous asked quietly.

"Fenrir Greyback, the werewolf Death Eater turned Shadow, is believed to be responsible," Professor Ashain told them and Orous nodded sadly while Michael shivered.

"Poor Vern. And what a horrible way to go," Michael pointed out also quietly, "werewolves are absolutely terrifying."

Everyone was in a glum mood after that news, even Albus who never had a positive thing to say about the Dursleys, he didn't say a word. They just sat around solemnly in the library after Professor Ashain left, half-heartedly trying to get through their homework with varying degrees of productivity. They left a seat for Vern but he didn't return, Corin and Maurice did show up after awhile though, sitting down obliviously.

"Who died?" Maurice quipped seemly noticing the mood.

"Vern's parents," Albus answered shooting a dark look at the deaf boy, Corin's eyes bulged in shock while Maurice's expression remained neutral although he did tilt his head to one side thoughtfully, "Greyback killed them last night."

"Probably targeted for being related to your father, a way to kick him while he's down without having to put the effort into attacking people actually capable of fighting back since he's already being slandered the scandal surrounding the Aurors involvement in Trelawny's death."

"Oh shut up."

"Why else would they put Greyback on it? He's known for his brutality, probably tore those helpless muggles to shreds. Makes a more effective point than a simple quick blast with the killing curse."

"Shut up, Maurice! Could you be anymore callous?"

"Werewolves are scary," Michael reaffirmed, "Jack let me see a scary movie with them when I was really little, scared me so much I didn't sleep right for a month. Being attacked by a werewolf, someone I care about being killed by werewolf, being turned into a werewolf, being killed by a werewolf and someone I care about being turned into a werewolf were some of my top fears."

"Why Albus, you almost seem bothered," Maurice continued as if Michael hadn't spoken, "which is odd considering you constantly insult Vern's family and treat him like dirt."

"Doesn't mean I wanted them to die!" Albus shrieked looking hurt, "now I feel terrible."

"Well if you weren't such a jerk in the first place then there'd be no need to feel terrible."

"I'm not a jerk, _you_ are."

"No one's a jerk, let's just talk about someone else," Michael intervened trying to keep the peace, "anyone?"

"The Shadows are going to kill everyone eventually and take over the world," Orous offered quietly.

"They will with that defeatist attitude," Maurice scoffed.

"Have you no compassion?!" Rose snapped glaring at him.

"Doesn't it bother you that your friend's parents died?" Abby asked tiredly

"I feel bad for Vern but I'm not surprised they died, there is a war going on and if you read the papers you would realize more people die every week, only a matter of time before it was someone we knew. And its only a matter of time before its someone else we know, until the Shadow Master's dead it won't stop. Mark my words."

* * *

_"Not so loud," Brutus whined in a whisper while he clutched his head, his father's voice made the pain his head flare unhelpfully, "I have a headache."_

_"You have a hangover now get up!" his father snapped loudly again and Brutus was pelted by a ball of cloth when he tried to sit up and face his father, he blinked at it in surprise while his father looked on the verge of tears, "its robes, get dressed and get a move on! I was scouting and I spotted them, they were talking about arresting you so hurry before they get you. I don't want to see you locked up or killed resisting them so just hurry, leave before they get here. I'll try buy you some time but you have to move, Brutus, please."_

_"Okay," Brutus nodded and immediately regretted it, his heart was pounding but the sleep was shot out of his head by the very real fear in his father's voice._

_They exchanged one last anxious look as his father paused in the doorway, their identical eyes met before Aurelius left and Brutus could only hope it wouldn't be the last time he saw him. He scrambled to get dressed, pulling on whatever he could find and snatching up his wand. He nearly left but stopped himself, combing through his pockets until he found the photograph he'd been keeping with him since becoming a Death Eater, the one of himself with his father and Atticus. He pocketed it, there was no way he was leaving it._

_He snuck out of his room and started to creep down a corridor, unsure whether the fact the place was a massive maze would be more of an advantage or disadvantage. He stopped when he heard his brother's voice, yelling so loudly it made the pain flare in his head again._

_"That's a lie!" Atticus shrieked from somewhere downstairs, "my brother is not a Death Eater! Your sources are wrong, Brutus would never do that!"_

_"Its the truth!" a woman's voice yelled in reply, Brutus had to hold his head again against the throbbing pain, "we lifted the memory charms off that boy, your brother's appearance is somewhat identifiable. The boy saw him kill that woman in cold blood."_

_"I know my own brother, he wouldn't join those horrible people! You're got it wrong, he's a good person at heart," Atticus protested so forcefully it made Brutus' heart twist up painfully, his brother's misplaced faith in him was depressing, he wished so badly it was true, "he wouldn't hurt innocent people, dammit he's not a Death Eater!"_

_"Well if he's innocent then he has nothing to fear. Search the house."_

_Brutus took that as his cue to leave and launched himself away, his brother's fiercely protective lie of last sentence echoing in his mind as he meandered his way through the halls to the secret passageway to get out of the mansion without anyone seeing. The sun bled and the clouds cried, casting an inky red glow as he fled, running across the grounds as fast as his legs would carry him._

_There was a wall running all along the perimeter of the Ashain grounds, most people would believe - mistakenly - that the only way past it was the huge gates. However there was also two segments you could pass through much like the entrance to Platform Nine and Three Quarters, you just had to know where they were. And Brutus did. His father wouldn't have told them, his grandparents wouldn't have on principle of not giving up Ashain secrets so unless Atticus did he should be in the clear. He slid easily through the closest one he'd ran to, almost breathing a sigh of relief before he recognized a wand being pointed right at him. A wand held in his brother's steady hand._

_Brutus almost started to raise his wand but he couldn't bring himself to aim it as his little brother, Atticus was looking unusually disheveled as if he too had just gotten out of bed - well it was early-ish in the morning. Before Brutus could say anything, Atticus flicked his wand and if Brutus had of had time to guess he was being disarmed then he would have been wrong. His sleeve shot up revealing the Dark Mark on his skin. The flash of hurt in his eyes and look of absolute betrayal in his face was enough to make Brutus wish a vortex would just appear and swallow him up, wherever it took him and whatever it did, he didn't care._

_"Atty, I-"_

_"Just don't," Atticus interrupted, it was only a whisper but he might as well have screamed it._

_Despite his throbbing head, Brutus thought he would have preferred anger to pain. Atticus lowered his wand but Brutus didn't see it, the brothers hung their heads in unison in opposite directions. Brutus knew he should speak, defend his actions, say he had joined to protect their father and he stayed mostly to protect his family but he couldn't bring himself to risk Atticus tearing his flimsy justifications to shreds. Atticus didn't want to hear it anyway, Brutus could practically feel him trying to digest the information. He always knew Atticus would take it badly. The sound of people in the distance arguing reminded them that just because they were in a nightmare, they were still in reality._

_"Are you going to turn me in?" Brutus asked so quietly it was barely audible._

_"I'm an Auror, its my job to turn in Death Eaters," Atticus told him equally quietly and Brutus started to nod resignedly before his hangover stopped him, terror flooding him as he thought of Azkaban, "but you're also my brother."_

_Brutus' head shot back up to look at Atticus in surprise but he hardly dared to hope, Atticus hadn't looked up but he also hadn't pointed his wand at him again, the rain hid whether he was crying or not. The voices seemed to be getting closer before finally Atticus shook his head and sighed._

_"Just go," Atticus croaked, "go before I change my mind."_

_Brutus cast one more sad glance at his brother before disapparating away._

* * *

The gloom hung over them like a dark cloud for the rest of the week, Albus seemed more withdrawn than usual and Michael was spending more time with Vern. Scorpius would have liked to have done something to help but he didn't see how, no magic could revive the dead and short of that he had no idea how to make Vern feel any better, he wasn't especially close to Vern but he still cared. He still felt upset about his grandfather's death when he stopped to think about it and it would have to be worse for Vern being orphaned.

It wasn't until Friday that an idea occurred to him to help Vern, focusing on avenging his grandfather's death helped him feel better so maybe that could help Vern. He decided to ask Varanian about it, his friends were used to him wanting to go to bed early on Fridays so it gave him the perfect opportunity to be alone. He lay back on his bed in the empty dormitory and withdrew his wand to press against the golden ring, he'd swapped its position with the Thestral ring so it felt more secure where they safely stayed.

"Varanian?" Scorpius questioned aloud and had to wait a few minutes before he felt the ring heating up in reply, the words forming for him to read.

_Did you find out?_

"Not yet, its hard," Scorpius pointed out and waited a second for the ring to relay his message before blanking again, "how do I do it?"

_Search their stuff_

"Okay," Scorpius agreed, he could work with that later but it wasn't his main reason for contact, "hear about the Dursleys?"

_Greyback victims_

"Do you know anything?"

_Wife knew too much_

"Not because of Potter?" Scorpius wondered in confusion.

_No_

"What did she know?"

_Something about experiments_

"What experiments?"

_I don't know yet_

"Sounds bad," Scorpius pointed out worriedly, "what about Greyback?"

_What about him?_

"Can you stop him?"

_His location is unknown_

"Okay," Scorpius muttered as he nodded in understanding even though Varanian couldn't see him nod, "any luck with Lorcan?"

_Location still unknown_

Scorpius sighed miserably and put down his wand, so much for giving Vern any kind of justice or revenge or for saving Lorcan. At least not at that moment in time. His eyes closed weakly, still feeling drained from the Patronus lessons and wondering how Lorcan was doing. It felt like just a second later he was opening his eyes in panic, coated in a film of sweat that glued his clothes to him. He was shaking.

He still felt tired but he did not want to go back to sleep, he hated those weird dreams and for a second considered 'ringing' Varanian again but decided against it, explaining about it would be awkward with having to use short sentences and he'd rather talk about it in person, it was less than two months to the Easter holidays anyway and he'd see him then.

He got up to go stretch his legs, it was still afternoon and the dormitory was still empty. He walked through the halls and kept feeling irritated and on edge when he saw the Aurors, he started to head outside instead despite the cool temperature. It was nearly deserted outside, save for the two Aurors guarding the entrance and a boy sitting under a tree by the lake, his pure white hair gave away his identity even from a distance and Scorpius walked on over to Orous. The albino was leaning against the tree gazing into the lake.

"Hey," Scorpius greeted him feeling oddly nervous, he hadn't talked to him alone since Orous had agreed to hang out again, Orous glanced at him when he spoke.

"Hey," Orous muttered as quietly as ever before turning back to the water.

"Can I sit with you?" Scorpius asked and Orous shrugged, Scorpius decided to take it as a yes and sat down beside Orous. Trying to think of something to say as he looked at the lake, it was reflecting the setting sun so perfectly it looked almost like there was a second sun in the lake, "beautiful isn't it?"

"Only until the shadows destroy it. They destroy everything."

"Not really, the light always comes back to banish the shadows."

"Only if you're the sun," Orous pointed out quietly and Scorpius fell silent again for a minute.

"What did you mean before? When you said about them taking the magic out of your soul and putting it back but it not being the same?"

"Its hard to describe but things feel... different. I feel disconnected from the world, like I'm not really a part of it anymore, not really here, not really alive. You know dreams when you're sort of there and aware of what's happening but not really taking part? Its sort of like that, closest thing you'd understand. It feels wrong," Orous explained with tears bubbling in his eyes, "everything I see seems a shade darker, everything I hear seems a touch further away, everything feels distant, even feeling hungry or thirty or emotions feel different, like I _know_ I feel them but its so far away it doesn't feel like it effects me. Its hard to remember things sometimes from before they ruined my soul too but everything since, all the bad memories are crystal clear. And I'm cold. I'm always cold."

"Is there anything that helps?" Scorpius asked quietly feeling his heart twist guiltily again for not helping Orous.

"Touch. Holding onto to something solid is the only time I feel almost normal, the first time my Dad hugged me after I thought I was actually okay again until he pulled away. I like being at home, we have two dogs and petting them helps but you can't bring dogs to Hogwarts."

"You could talk to Calderon about it."

"I wouldn't want them here anyway, they're safer at home."

"What... What family do you have?" Scorpius questioned cautiously, thinking about Orous' alleged twin.

"My biological dad left when I was a baby because he didn't want an albino freak for a son, a few years later my mum married my dad. My dad was an only child and my grandparents passed away years ago, my mum was an only child and on her side my grandfather is or was a Death Eater in the Second Wizarding War who was imprisoned in Azkaban and my grandmother walked out on her when she was young. I don't know about my biological dad or his family, I don't even know his name. My mum left when I got back from being a prisoner so its just me and my dad. He's a good person, he's a firefighter you know?"

"Do you have no brothers or sisters?"

"No."

Scorpius nodded in understanding and went quiet again, watching the sun set with the silent Orous. A part of him wanted to ask more, ask what he knew if anything from his ordeal but he couldn't bring himself to prod those painful memories, especially not when Orous still was teetering on the verge of tears. Instead he hesitantly put a comforting hand on the albino's shoulder, Orous' crimson eyes darted to him immediately.

"It'll be okay," Scorpius lied, "things will get better, it won't be like this forever. I promise."

* * *

_Brutus had not been enjoying the past few months, things had managed to go from alright to awful. He'd been forced to take refuge with the Death Eaters along with Achan, being given stupid bunks to sleep in and given crap to eat and drink, the clothes were all cheap, itchy and ill-fitting. He hated it. He'd never slept in a single bed once in his life, never had to wear anything that cost less than the latest model broomstick and never had to go for an extended period of time on foul-tasting food, he'd been ill for days as his stomach adapted. He tried to wear the clothes he'd been wearing when he'd fled his home unless they were being washed but still had trouble sleeping. And that wasn't even the least of his problems._

_The world had quite literally gone to hell, Dumbledore had been killed by that treacherous Snape - Death Eater or not, he'd liked Dumbledore and hadn't wanted him to die - and they had taken over the Ministry. The war was waging full scale, prosecuting mudbloods for 'stealing' magic - Brutus wasn't sure whether to be furious or relieved that his bitch mother hadn't been caught - and in general the Wizarding World was just in crisis. He decided he really didn't like war and really didn't want to be a part of it, the Ashains had been right all along to just think it was best to hide away in the bubble of safety at the mansion and stay out of things. Of course Atticus was still at risk, Brutus didn't know where he was but he knew he was still on the wrong side of the war._

_Regardless of how it came about, Brutus had to root for the Death Eaters. He didn't see how it was possible to have a future otherwise, he'd be thrown in Azkaban if they lost and if the Death Eaters won then Atticus would have to see sense. He'd let Brutus go which Brutus took to be a sign that maybe he wasn't so badly brainwashed by his mother that he could see sense, Brutus thought if he just gave him some time to accept it then he could talk him into joining them, family mattered and it was better for their family if the Death Eaters won. The Ashain's were pure-bloods after all. Except Brutus but he really tried to forget that. It would also be better for the twins if Death Eaters won, if they lost then there was no way the Ministry would let children of Voldemort live - except maybe in Azkaban which he considered just as bad - especially considering Tommy's power and lack of control. Brutus sighed to himself, he just wished it would be over soon._

_"What's up, Brutus?" Achan questioned and Brutus shivered, his voice sounded strange and Brutus rolled over in his bunk to see his friend only to be met by pitch black eyes again._

_"Sal, what are you doing?!" Brutus demanded frustratedly, jolting up and looking around but thankfully it was empty that early in the evening, Brutus just preferred to be alone as he didn't get along well with the other Death Eaters aside from Achan._

_"What? I have to practice my control of possessing people," Sal pointed out with an odd expression._

_"No you don't. Those Shadows-"_

_"Specters."_

_"Those Specters then are bad news and its really not safe for you to be playing with soul-sucking shadows."_

_"Come now, Brutus, I know what I'm doing."_

_"No you don't, your whole reason for doing this is because you don't know and are learning how!"_

_"I know enough and Tommy's still the Shadow Master, they can't claim a soul with him in control," Sal said with a smirk, "these are perfect and I need control for my plans."_

_"How do these play into your plans?" Brutus wondered worriedly with a hint of morbid curiosity._

_"No one's aware these things exist, let alone how to fight them so imagine how helpless people will be when I use them in my plans? Imagine an army of these at my command, eyes to spy, a way of transportation, a way to force people to do what I want, a way to kill. They scare you, they'll scare everyone else."_

_"I have no doubt they would but I stand by them being bad news. The cons outweigh the pros."_

_"The only con is that you don't like them because they make you shiver."_

_"They take souls, that is dangerous. And you're possessing my friend right now!"_

_"It's not hurting him, he won't even remember this because they can erase memories of those they possess to make them forget they've been possessed. Rather useful."_

_"Still," Brutus protested, "and why are you possessing my friend and talking to me anyway?"_

_"You've been down lately, I wanted to make sure you were alright," Sal told him and sounded so genuinely concerned it surprised him, he still didn't like it though and he really didn't like running into people possessed by Sal._

_"I'll be fine, Sal, just please stop doing that," Brutus grumbled and Sal pouted before the Shadow or Specter left Achan._

_"What am I doing here again?" Achan wondered blinking a few times with his real eyes._

_"If you don't remember maybe you need to lay off the booze," Brutus pointed out rolling back over to the other side and fighting to fall into an uneasy sleep once more while Achan walked away cursing his memory. He couldn't wait for the Death Eaters to win, then Sal could drop her world domination plans and maybe they'd both have some peace of mind for once._


	51. II: Albus Likes Vipera

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_How did Vern's mom meet the woman? _**  
_She just showed up at the house one day and offered her a way to make Vern normal again_

**_How does Greyback not get caught or die I mean he bit Lupin as a child in the 60's so how is he not affecting by some form of aging mixed with wounds from war? _**  
_Witches and Wizards have longer lifespans than muggles and also seem less effected by age-related things (Dumbledore for example was over 100 and rather agile for his age), we don't know Greyback's age for sure but I put him in his 70s which is not young but not too old. Also personally I imagine that age doesn't matter when transformed, werewolves are dangerous at the full moon regardless of age or how they are in human form so old or not on the full moon Greyback is a threat. With the reformed Ministry I think they would have taken better care of their prisoners (including Greyback) and seen to his injuries from the war, he's scarred but alive (actually in my series he has a limp from injuries sustained in the war, you'll see more of Greyback in book 3). He hasn't been caught because he is working for the Shadows/Soul Eaters who are protecting him, Sal isn't actually prejudiced against werewolves and Greyback's on-board with her plans _

**_How is Vern gonna be comforted? _**  
_Michael is helping him_

**_Will some of these people get their heads out of their collective asses?_**  
_Depends who you're talking about_

**_Brutus is dead now isn't he?_**  
_No he's not dead, he just hasn't really been in this book yet (he will be in it soon enough though) aside from flashbacks_

* * *

The Ravenclaw versus Slytherin match actually ended in a victory for Ravenclaw, Scorpius had been cheering for Ravenclaw out of continuing loyalty to Professor Ashain even though he disliked Copper and his Ravenclaw friends but was still surprised when they won as Slytherin had been the favorites. The Slytherin team seemed off their game though, usually Kyle was keen eyed and calm but he kept casting fearful looks at the pitch as did some of the other players which gave the Ravenclaw Seeker ample opportunity to best him. Scorpius also wasn't sure what was up with Nick but he just played terribly, his head was not in the game at all and Ravenclaw absolutely flattened the Slytherin team.

At least the pitch didn't turn into water and ice and try to drown anyone that time, it also seemed to cheer Vern up a bit and he smiled for the first time all week. Scorpius and Michael chose to sit with Vern, Corin and Orous, he was surprised when Albus and Abby also chose to sit with them rather than with Rose and the Ravenclaws and Albus didn't complain once about Vern although he didn't like that Slytherin lost for some reason. Maurice also attended the game, his neutral expression gave nothing away and he didn't cheer for any team but Scorpius thought he alone might actually have been disappointed that nothing went wrong.

Scorpius actually found it was just him, Albus and Michael in the Library the next day together though, Rose was with Copper and the Ravenclaws while Abby was spending some time with her dad to celebrate her sister winning the second task of the Triwizard Tournament that week. When Michael left for his session with Vipera it left just him and Albus, Albus sighed wistfully.

"What do you think she sees in him?" Albus asked thoughtfully.

"Who, Vipera?" Scorpius wondered in puzzlement to which Albus nodded, "a student in need of some extra help to compensate for his Dyslexia."

"Oh come on, like they're really studying right now. They're obviously having a make-out session."

"No, they're obviously not. Haven't we been over this?"

"This time its different, she's upset about her house losing the Quidditch match so she's going to lean on Michael for support."

"To cope with a school team Quidditch loss?" Scorpius said shaking his head, "I think you might actually need help."

"It matters to some people," Albus complained moodily, "I was thinking about writing her a love poem."

"Well that's a bad id-"

"I wondered if you could tell me which you like best," Albus interrupted and pushed a piece of parchment to him.

"You were supposed to be working on Grant's Charms assignment!"

"If you were in love then you would understand how hard it is to focus when your woman is in the arms of another man."

"Michael's twelve."

"Just read them!" Albus snapped and Scorpius sighed again as he glanced at the page.

_Roses are red_  
_Violets are blue_  
_You're so beautiful_  
_And I love you_

_Roses are red_  
_Violets are pretty_  
_You are amazing_  
_So I wrote you this ditty_

_Your hair is so fine_  
_Your eyes just shine_  
_You're really divine_  
_Have the grace of a feline_  
_So please be mine_  
_I'll love you for all time_

"So what do you think?" Albus asked hopefully, "be completely honest. I was trying to put my spin on a classic for the first two but the last one is original."

"Honestly, I still think you need help," Scorpius pointed out and Albus irritably snatched the paper back.

"Well its not aimed at you now, is it?" Albus grumbled, "and you know you criticize me when really you should be paying attention, at least I am actually doing something to win her over. Maybe if you tried writing Molly poetry then she'd be interested in you."

"Molly wouldn't be interested in poetry."

"Dude, its a fact that there's five things all girls love: poetry, flowers, sweets, perfume and jewelry. My mum wouldn't let me use my allowance on sweets, perfume or jewelry for a teacher and when I tried to pick flowers Neville told me they were poisonous so I'm writing poetry. I have to do something to compete with Michael but I can't bring back the dead and I tried reading about healing but its just... yuck so I'm trying my hand at poetry. You should do the same, Nick and Molly are having issues so its the perfect time for you to get in there."

"Since when did you become an expert on relationships?"

"Since I'm thirteen and older than you, plus I've been getting along better with James lately and he told me," Albus stated as if it were obvious, "I was thinking of going with the more original one, I was going to go with one of the others on Valentine's Day but with everything going on I completely forgot about that so I figure everyone uses Valentine's Day so I'll make my own Valentine's Day with my own poem and it'll cheer her up. Originality can be my hook compared to Michael's... altrusticness."

"Do you mean altruism?"

"Whatever its called."

"This is only going to end badly, Al, please don't give Vipera a poem," Scorpius pleaded with him before something occurred to him as Albus opened his mouth to protest, "okay how about this, we get out your dad's cloak and go check on Vipera. If I'm right and they're just working then you don't need to compete against Michael and don't need to send the poem and I'm wrong then you can send the poem and I can die of shock."

"You're on!" Albus agreed brightly and they packed up their stuff to go get the invisibility cloak

It still covered both of them easily and they started to head down to the dungeons, occasionally having to avoid oblivious people. Scorpius nearly asked Albus if he remembered the time they went down to the Hospital Wing but was afraid of Albus actually not remembering considering he didn't have his memories completely intact. As they walked it dawned on him that the cloak was the perfect way to go through the teachers things - without being caught - to see if there was anything to hint they were the one working with the Shadows but his plan immediately was bludgeoned down, the staff's offices had their private quarters attached - where they would most likely keep any damning information - but all had passwords decided solely by the staff themselves. He supposed he could stand around invisible in the offices waiting for the staff member to say the password but that could potentially take awhile and standing in a small space with a teacher seemed to tempting fate to get caught, invisible or not. Eventually they'd probably hear breathing.

They made it to Vipera's classroom, the door was already ajar so they simply pushed it open just far enough to see Scorpius proved right. Michael and Vipera were sitting together at the closest table with a cauldron bubbling between them and a row in ingredients they were talking about, Scorpius cast Albus a triumphant look but Albus didn't look displeased.

"Okay you were right," Albus admitted in a whisper, "for now anyway."

"So let's go," Scorpius whispered back when Albus didn't move.

"Just a minute, she's so perfect."

"From this angle we can only see the back of her neck."

"And its such a beautiful back of neck," Albus pointed out dreamily to which Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Did the door just open wider?" Michael questioned observantly.

They backed away in panic as Vipera looked over, she scowled and headed across to the door and they backed away right into the wall opposite. Vipera opened the door wide and looked out, eying the corridor up and down in both directions.

"Probably just those Aurors, they're always bothering me," Vipera said finally as she retreated back into the classroom and closed the door behind her.

They both breathed a sigh of relief and started to head back in silence, Scorpius felt alarm bells ringing in his head since she'd mentioned the Aurors. Always 'bothering' her probably meant secretly conversing with her over Shadow plans, she just jumped to the top of his suspect list.

"You don't think she's in danger, do you?" Albus asked worriedly once they were back in the dormitory, "I mean what if you're right about the Aurors being bad news? I mean if some of them killed Trelawny then what if Vipera's next?"

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Scorpius dismissed it, she was just covering her tracks by making it sound like she didn't want the Aurors around to throw suspicion off herself. Albus didn't look convinced but Scorpius didn't care, he just needed more solid proof and he could tell Varanian he'd finally done something useful.

With Monday came the first of March and Calderon announced that Elina Olga-Vasille was the new Divination teacher, even if they'd forgotten the name it was the same woman who'd upset Rivers after the Arithmancy taster. Rivers looked positively miserable as the school applauded in welcome to the woman, unlike Professor Trelawny she was actually sitting at the staff table.

"About time," Albus grumbled, "I was beginning to think they were just cancelling the subject."

"Well its complicated," Michael pointed out,"because Calderon's only Acting Headmaster his choice has to be approved by Headmistress McGonagall back in France, who also wanted to read through all the applicants and then because of the fears of security the Ministry also have to approve the choice after extensive background checks and interviews with mind reading people. That's why it took so long."

"Don't get me wrong, I've heard nothing good about Divination but the look on Rivers' face is completely worth it."

"Divination isn't that bad," Dom stated and Scorpius jumped, he hadn't realized she was sitting near enough to be in on their conversation, "Aurelius says its just an extremely difficult branch of magic to master and people expect it to be specific but the future isn't set in stone, there's different possible futures overlapping that make it hard to see so you have to try to interpret what you can which isn't necessarily easy but people don't take that into account. Understanding what you see is the most difficult part, its easy to get it wrong and people are very unforgiving if you do make an error and assume you're a fraud or a liar. Even if you get it right, it may not come to pass as the future is subject to change because you always have a choice. Arithmancy is also about the future but instead of seeing the future its more about predicting the most likely course of events instead of seeing it. A truly good practitioner of Divination is probably at least versed and possibly capable of carrying out both methods."

"Well no one cares what Aurelius thinks, my parents say Divination is a useless waste of time," Rose offered dismissively.

As it turned out it didn't actually matter that Elina had been hired as the next taster session on Saturday was Muggle Studies not Divination, Scorpius didn't find himself looking forward to that much either. Scorpius also started to regret going to the Potions classroom to check on Michael and Vipera as Albus remained convinced that her life was in danger and wanted to check on her at random moments because he had a 'feeling' she was in danger, Scorpius could hardly tell him that it was much more likely people were in danger from her and he had a crush on a Shadow. Instead he just went along with it so Albus wouldn't be alone, Vipera was probably starting to get suspicious that two of her best pupils kept running into her at random times to ask obvious questions.

The Muggle Studies taster session also had a hall full of chairs for them to sit at although the staff table was there with a scattering of muggle devices, Michael had almost not gone as he thought it was rather unnecessary considering he came from a muggle family but Rose had insisted he go or else she wouldn't bother going to the Divination one. It was the only time Scorpius had ever seen Michael looked bored by the prospect of something magical related. The Muggle Studies professor didn't seem to do much to make the class look interesting, he was a balding middle-aged man.

"My name is Bogdan Oring and I'm the professor of Muggle Studies here at Hogwarts," the professor introduced himself in a surprisingly lively tone although he had a way of pronouncing words that seemed to make sure every letter was said, he literally pronounced 'I'm' as 'I''M', "its the study of how muggles live without magic."

Oring went on to start talking about muggles and Scorpius found himself zoning out, even if not for the odd way he spoke, Scorpius already knew most of the things Oring was talking about. He only perked up briefly when Oring mentioned muggle transportation including motorcycles, Scorpius liked motorcycles. He drifted into fantasies of riding one with Molly, she'd have to hold him close and they'd speed along happily, while Oring demonstrated the items on the table - most of them anyway, he could only talk about the electrical ones since they didn't really work inside Hogwarts - that muggles used.

"I never thought I'd be bored in a magic school," Michael said to himself with a sigh, "I already know how a light switch works. Seeing everyday things talked about like alien objects is actually something of a downer. No wonder people were prejudiced against us in the past, its like we're an exhibit at a zoo."

"I think you mean them because you're a wizard and also hush, you're not supposed to talk about it yet," Scorpius pointed out in a whisper and Michael sighed again, "I already know this stuff too, just do what I'm doing and day dream about having a date with your crush."

Michael blushed at this and glanced at the back of Rose's head before staring at the ground, Scorpius also glanced at her and his other friends, they actually looked interested. He also noticed in his sweep of the area that oddly enough, one of the Aurors guarding the hall was glaring at Oring. Was Oring maybe also a Shadow and had done something to make the Shadow Aurors mad or did they just not like him preaching about muggles in a positive light? Scorpius shook his head and went back to not paying attention for the rest of the session, it felt like forever before Oring came to a close.

"And that's all we have time for today, if you want to know more about muggles than you will just have to take my class. I look forward to seeing some of you then. You may go but if there is any questions you have about the class or just something you want to know about muggles then I'll stay to answer them," Oring told them and Michael eagerly went to leave but Scorpius had a question and his hand shot up, Michael rolled his mismatched eyes and sat back down. It took awhile for Oring to get to him.

"I had a question about how the muggle legal system works, if a wizard commits a crime against muggles then they're tried and sent to..." Scorpius had to stop himself from saying Azkaban, "wizard prison but what happens if a muggle commits a crime against a wizard? Do they not get punished?"

"Yes if the muggle is aware of the magical world then they are tried by the Ministry and put in international wizard prison specifically for muggles who commit crimes against wizard then released as and when their sentence is up. If the muggle is unaware of the magical world then they may or may not be prosecuted depending the severity of the crime, when their sentence is up they have their memories of magic erased and just alter it to seem like it was a muggle only involved but this can be more trouble than its worth sometimes."

Scorpius felt confused and angered at Oring's answer, if they had a special prison for muggles who did things to wizards then why hadn't Linden and Joel been locked up there? Why had they still been free to hold Orous and the Scamander twins prisoner? Had they just had a day long sentence or something? Was it just not deemed a severe enough crime to be bothered? That had to be it, Orous had mentioned a grandfather he never met being a Death Eater, the Ministry just didn't care about crimes against the grandchildren of Death Eaters. That was probably why they didn't even care they were gone but launched a whole campaign to find the Scamander twins. How could the Ministry claim prejudice against muggle-borns or werewolves or most recently squibs was wrong when they were so blatantly prejudiced against those simply related to Death Eaters? It made him furious, it just proved that magical people were just as bad as muggles, people were just horrible regardless of their blood status. Everyone was bad. They were all against him. The world was a terrible place, Shadows or no Shadows.

Scorpius remained in a bad mood all week, he'd never been in such a bad mood with so many Quidditch practices as they geared up for the match against Hufflepuff on Saturday. Even his friends picked up on his foul mood but he couldn't tell them why, they'd just defend the stupid Ministry. Michael as usual was the one who tried to reach out to him and cheer him up, he wondered why Michael actually bothered as they came back from Quidditch practice on Friday and Scorpius threw himself down onto his bed. He'd barely cast a speck as his silver piece of Patronus shield so he was actually not as exhausted as he usually felt.

"C'mon what's wrong? Usually you love Quidditch practice," Michael pointed out, Scorpius just grunted in reply, he didn't feel like talking, "alright Mr talkative, want to see something cool?"

"No," Scorpius answered irritably, "I'd rather just be alone."

"It won't take long."

Scorpius rolled his eyes in frustration and got back up to go with Michael, his irritation dimmed when he noticed Michael occasionally rubbing his head like he did when he got a headache. Michael never complained but Scorpius had noticed it the past few months, he kept hoping it was the last time his friend would be in pain but apparently not. Guiltily he followed him on the Seventh Floor and was on the verge of apologizing when Michael turned around and walked back down the corridor then back up it again, Scorpius just watched in surprise and wondered if Michael's headache was impairing his sanity when Michael stopped and grinned.

"Come on," Michael told him as he walked over to a door opposite from the ugly tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, Scorpius just stared at it in shock.

"That door wasn't there before," Scorpius pointed out as Michael opened it and gestured for him to come, "where did it come from?"

"Magic," Michael shrugged as Scorpius followed him inside, "welcome to The Room That Doesn't Exist."

Scorpius looked around in surprise at the room that clearly did exist, it wasn't overly large or particularly small, there were some armchairs and a couch like the ones in the Gryffindor Common Room around a small fire. There were some bookshelves lining the walls and some tapestries.

"What is this place?" Scorpius wondered in shock.

"I just told you. You just walk around outside a few times and think about it then the room appears, however you imagine to be it will. I used the common room for inspiration here but it can be whatever, its pretty cool. This is where I hang out when I want to be alone, sometimes it doesn't work especially late but mostly its available. I don't think many people or any know about it or you guys wouldn't mock me for it."

"Well I definitely owe you an apology. I'm really sorry I didn't believe you about the room."

* * *

_Unfortunately for Brutus the war did not end quickly, they were still at war by the time winter came. Sal at least seemed in a good mood, he took that to mean whatever she was trying to do with the Shadows/Specters was going well. He didn't ask though, he didn't want to know about those things. He understood her logic on how they could be useful but it seemed far more trouble than it was worth, he wouldn't want to be near anything that dangerous that could take his soul._

_Brutus' mood plummeted with the temperature as winter arrived with December, it marked six months since he'd been forced to flee his home, six months since he'd last seen his family. And it was Christmas, it wasn't his favorite holiday but it was a reminder of family. At least he had Achan with him, he wasn't completely alone with his friend. He was on guard duty Christmas Eve, Rodolphus had been uncharacteristically kind enough to not torture either of the twins so Brutus had them both. Tommy's spirits seemed on par with his own but he made an effort to be more cheerful which was difficult with the Dementors but he still tried, telling them the stories about Hogwarts that they enjoyed._

_His shift ended in the evening though and he clambered back up the steps to leave, only to find himself being waved into the kitchen by Rodolphus who was sitting with Lucius Malfoy. Lucius eyed him with a familiar look of disgust while Rodolphus was flipping through some pages with his feet up on the table._

_"What?" Brutus growled, he didn't like either man._

* * *

Scorpius was impressed by the room although he felt like a jerk for not believing Michael from before, he silently vowed to never not believe Michael about something again. It was amazing though, Scorpius left and re-entered the room several times just to see how it changed with a different purpose or interior in mind. He could see why Michael liked it, it was your own perfect sanctuary whatever you desired and according to Michael other people couldn't get in if you specifically willed it so and no one could get in anyway if they didn't know the room's current purpose.

Scorpius was effectively cheered up, they only left when Aurors passed by and shooed them while they were outside trying to rearrange it into a room with stairs. It was probably a good thing actually as it was late, the practice had been after dinner because Hufflepuff had booked it in the earlier afternoon. Surprisingly though they ran into Albus heading back to Gryffindor Tower too looking upset.

"What's wrong?" Michael asked worriedly as they continued heading back together.

"Well I went to go check on Vipera before I headed back to the dormitory, you know how I do because soul mates instinctively know when something is wrong and she was fine but when I left I heard yelling and looked back and she was arguing with Aurors, I went back to see what was wrong and they left. They looked murderous though," Albus explained anxiously, "she was alright, its not like they dueled or anything but I'm just scared they'll come back for her later."

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Scorpius pointed out dismissively, they'd probably been arguing about something Shadow-like.

Maybe the Aurors wanted to try something else at the match? The more time passed the more desperate they got after all, Vipera maybe was having trouble keeping them in line. That made sense. Scorpius thought about as he got ready for bed but Albus would not let the Aurors wanting to kill Vipera thing go, every time Scorpius closed his eyes to try to sleep Albus would again vocalize going to check on her.

"Look Al, I have a Quidditch game tomorrow, _please_ stop worrying about Vipera," Scorpius pleaded desperately, half wishing he could be a heavier sleeper like Reuben and Angelo, "she'll be fine, she's perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

"Don't talk about the Quidditch game!" Michael shrieked sounding panicked and Scorpius blinked, he hadn't realized Michael was still awake, he'd assumed all the tossing and turning was solely from Albus.

"Why?" Scorpius and Albus wondered in unison.

"I'm nervous okay?!" Michael told them sounding like he was crying or about to cry, "the _entire_ school's gonna watch me fail because I'm a worthless loser failure, I'm no good and I can't do it, I can't do anything right, I've barely slept all week and I can't sleep and I think I'm actually going to be sick!"

"I'm sure-"

Scorpius was forced to end his sentence at the sound of someone leaping from bed and running for the door, Scorpius went to follow and realized Albus was too. Reuben and Angelo were still blissfully lost in sleep land as they followed Michael out into the Second Year's bathroom, Scorpius could hear him retching but wasn't sure which cubicle he was in. Scorpius exchanged a look of guilt with Albus, had they really been so obsessed with their own issues they hadn't noticed Michael was so worked up about the match or was Michael just exceptionally skilled at hiding it? Michael came out on unsteady legs, his face streaked with tears as he went over to clean himself up at one of the sinks.

"You'll do great, you're really good," Scorpius offered comfortingly, "trust me."

"Yeah don't be nervous, just try your best," Albus added gently, "is there anything we can do to help?"

"It w-would be nice to get some fresh air t-to clear my head," Michael said shakily after a few moments of silence.

"Sure we can do that, I'll get the cloak."

They retreated back to the dormitory to throw on some clothes and shoes quickly before they headed down, tossing the cloak over themselves as they headed out. Michael was still trembling as they went down all the flights of stairs, Scorpius was trying to think of the best thing to say to comfort him but was afraid of alerting the Aurors. Then again there didn't seem to be a lot of Aurors around, their numbers had cut down since Christmas and it was logical there was less on at night. They probably still guarded the main entrances though, Scorpius was just working on deciding which side entrance would be best for them to get out of when Michael spoke.

"Want to check on Vipera while we're passing the dungeons?" Michael offered quietly.

"Are you sure?" Albus wondered sounding somewhere between hopeful and nervous.

"It'll put your mind at ease. And we're still going outside right?"

"Sure," Scorpius agreed as they detoured into the dungeons, they were extremely creepy at night.

The trio pressed on though, rounding the bend with the Potions classroom on it, her office and by extension sleeping quarters would be in there. He hoped seeing things not out of place would put Albus' mind at ease because there was no way they'd be able to guess her password. The classroom door was already ajar so they just had to reach out to push it further open, it creaked loudly but then the noise didn't matter.

Vipera was lying sprawled on the floor unmoving in front of her desk, her hand outstretched but just falling short of her wand, her eyes were closed and Scorpius wasn't sure if she was breathing. Albus gasped in panic while Michael threw off the cloak and ran to her, falling to his knees and pushing his fingers to her neck. Scorpius and Albus followed over where he noticed a tear in her black dress around her stomach near the side, crimson was gushing from the wound.

"She's alive but she needs help. Albus get Marigold the healer now, Scorpius grab that cloak off the back of the door so I have something to try and stop the bleeding with," Michael told them looking up at them with his mismatched eyes, no longer sounding shaky but sure, Albus and Scorpius remained frozen for a minute though, Albus looked about to cry, "NOW!"

Michael's command shocked them to life and Albus bolted as if his life depended on it, or rather Vipera's life while Scorpius went to grab the cloak to give to Michael who was ripping the tear in the fabric wider. He took out his wand and sliced the cloak up, giving him a more manageable size of cloth to press into the wound. Scorpius just watched silently listening to his beating heart, he had really been wrong about Vipera.

"She keeps some samples of potions in the storeroom, get the one that's bright orange," Michael commanded and Scorpius didn't hesitate that time to get into the storeroom.

Maybe he should have. He spotted the bright orange potion easily and grabbed it, tossing it back to Michael to save time who immediately went back to pouring over the wound. It was then that Scorpius noticed the Auror hiding in the storeroom, he opened his mouth to cry out a warning but the Auror had already aimed his wand at him while he'd been distracted and Scorpius was hit by a spell before he could get the warning out.

The spell actually gave him a relaxing warm feeling but his body was ignoring his desire to speak or move, before abruptly he started walking out of the storeroom past Michael - who was pouring the potion onto Vipera's wound - to pick up the discarded invisibility cloak before starting to walk back. Scorpius tried to fight it and he could feel his body twitching as he tried to obey, his wrist was burning and he managed to bring himself to a stop beside Michael who looked at him in confusion.

The Auror must have realized he was losing control because he burst from the store cupboard with another jet of light already aiming for Scorpius, Scorpius was thrown immediately through the air and slammed violently against the wall. His head smacked painfully against the stone with a crack and he fell weakly against the ground, his vision starting to go dark but he still made out Michael jumping up and placing himself protectively between the Auror and Vipera. Then things went dark.

Scorpius was dragged back from unconsciousness by screaming, Michael was screaming... he had to help his friend. He forced his eyes open, seeing Michael writhing on the ground from what had to be the torture curse. The Auror jabbed his wand closer to Michael with a cruel smirk, Michael scream intensified as his body arched back before the Auror let it go and Michael slumped back breathing heavily and shaking.

"Dumb mudblood," the Auror spat raising his wand again, "_Avada-_"

"NO!" Scorpius shrieked desperately and reached out desperately with his arm, he noticed the fire circling his wrist just as it burst through his palm and struck the Auror.

The Auror screamed in agony as his body caught fire, staggering back and collapsing onto the ground as he thrashed violently against the flames. Michael scrambled to grab his wand and aimed it at the Auror with his arm trembling as he cast the body-bind curse to still the Auror followed by the spell to put out the flames, Scorpius wouldn't have given him that luxury but everything was already blacking out again.

* * *

_"The Dark Lord wishes for his children to take part in some action," Lucius stated coldly but he didn't look quite the same, Azkaban seemed to have taken its toll, "they're coming with us to torture and kill a couple of blood traitors or mudbloods or muggles."_

_"There's eight of us going," Rodolphus picked up from where Lucius left off, "the twins and three Death Eaters for each of them, Lucius, myself and my brother, you, Selwyn and Loren along with three Dementors to keep Tommy's power in check. Your shoddy healing skills are actually the best we have so you'll be responsible for keeping the targets alive during torture."_

_"Fine," Brutus grumbled unhappily._

_"That's not all, you've had issues in the past when children are involved."_

_"I don't like children getting hurt. What's your point?"_

_"We're intending to go after a couple as in a married couple, quite a few of them have children. You need to be okay with that."_

_"I'll be okay with it if you don't hurt the children."_

_"Well I can't promise that, its good to make scum watch their spawn suffer and they too need to be eliminated."_

_"Well then get someone else to go whose not me or pick people with no children."_

_"How about we make an compromising arrangement?" Lucius offered looking between them, "if Rodolphus agrees to not torture any children and Brutus agrees to not do anything to stop him from killing them, killing them only with the killing curse because its quick, painless but effective. Could you both agree to that?"_

_"I suppose," Rodolphus agreed reluctantly._

_"I don't know," Brutus pointed out while Rodolphus smirked._

_"Well then you won't come and they'll suffer an incredibly painful death, testing methods to be used against your family since your baby brother is a blood traitor fighting for the wrong side, even your father dated a mudblood to get you so that could be construed as treachery."_

_"Fine," Brutus snapped feeling miserable._

_"Will you abide by it or do we need to make an unbreakable vow?"_

_"I can if you can... When are we going?"_

_"As soon as we've chosen someone from the list, top contenders at the moment are Claudius Vipera and his mudblood wife, Yvonne Carlyle and her muggle husband, Philip Varanian and his mudblood wi-"_

_"Pip Varanian is on that list? Stupid smart bastard," Brutus burst out in shock before he could stop himself._

_"You know that guy?"_

_"We went to school together, always hated each other."_

_"Great then its settled," Rodolphus said with a malicious grin as he tossed aside the papers, Brutus suddenly had a very bad feeling he'd done something wrong, "ready the troops and grab the twins, we attack the Varanians tonight."_


	52. II: Divination Division

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Sorry for the no update, had the last day of my course so done now and updates will be daily/nearly daily all through August, this should be finished by then. We're actually near the end, Easter's almost upon us and after Easter its really not long before the finale events_

**_Questions:_**

**_I meant are the Potter children to Vern and how they treat people, Rose on her boyfriend, and Mike on Jack, are they gonna get their heads out of their asses?_**  
_The Potter kids are being nicer to Vern since his parents death (even James) or at least not being outright mean to him, whether it will last I can't say. Generally Albus isn't that bad to people unless he's just in a bad mood and lashing out or he doesn't like the person (for example he hates Maurice) and he will improve at some point. Lily hasn't been in it enough yet to have an issue and James won't this book (although he isn't as mean to everyone as he is to some people and he is being nicer to Albus) but whether he'll become a better person in time or just get even more bitter and angry, I can't say. Rose doesn't actually realize her boyfriend has issues with her friends, since its dealt with in this chapter I'll just say read on. Michael on Jack is a complicated one, Jack isn't the best father and Michael has kind of given up on Jack ever improving at this point because he's too used to being let down but Michael is a forgiving person if Jack really does care so maybe things will change. I know these aren't very solid answers but I don't actually have everything planned out and not everything is set in stone (although some things are) as I have different ideas for how some things can go especially Michael and Jack, Michael's home life will be dealt with more in III though  
_

* * *

_"Come to me, Scorpius."_

Scorpius opened his eyes weakly, blinking away the sleep as he glanced around. He was no longer on the floor in the Potions classroom but lying in a bed in the hospital wing, he sat up and looked over at the other beds expecting to see at least Vipera, possibly Michael and the Shadow Auror but they were all empty. He frowned before he noticed the Head Healer - Marigold - coming over to him.

"Ah, you're finally awake," Marigold greeted him, "about bloody time."

"What about Michael and Vipera?" Scorpius asked worriedly.

"What? Oh they're fine, Michael didn't need any healing and Professor Vipera was released days ago."

"What about that Auror?"

"He's not here anymore, the Aurors took him away and killed him."

"The Aurors took him away and killed him?" Scorpius repeated in confusion to which Marigold glared at him.

"Yes, weren't you listening? Its all over the papers, they took him to be questioned and he suddenly died in the interrogation room which is more than a little suspicious if you ask me. They let Varanian escape, they kill Trelawny, try to kill Vipera and kill one of their own just to cover it up then refuse to pull the Aurors out of Hogwarts against Calderon's wishes. Unbelievable," Marigold complained shaking his head, "now do you have any more questions or can I make sure you're alright?"

"Why did the Auror attack Vipera in the first place?"

"Apparently she caught him stealing from her storerooms so he attacked her, he probably would have killed her if you three hadn't shown up. Are you done now?"

"How long was I unconscious for?"

"Well its lunch on Thursday so nearly a week, the combination of head trauma and use of accidental wandless magic kept you out for awhile. Are you done _now_?"

Scorpius nodded and sat there in shock, it had been Friday just a second ago when he was lying on the floor. Marigold came over to run through the checks, asking him questions to test his mind was working and some spells to make sure he was alright. He found himself actually relaxing, compared to the evil healers at St Mungo's who insisted on a physical examination it was a breeze. Marigold did check his head and look at his wrist but that was all, Scorpius noticed the bruising-that-wasn't-bruising as vivid again.

"That should go with time depending on what spell that Auror used on you," Marigold pointed out scowling, "its a curse wound so it won't be healed magically, I did try, the spells that cause bruising that takes a long time to heal are usually more devastating than this so be glad you're wrist isn't broken and in the meantime endure."

"Thank you," Scorpius nodded while Marigold went to get him something to eat, if Marigold assumed it was caused by the attack on Friday than that was fine by him.

Marigold kept him there for the rest of the afternoon to keep an eye on him, it was boring but Scorpius supposed he could see the logic behind it and it gave him time to absorb what happened and to think, wondering what the Shadow Auror had been trying to steal and why. Things picked up when classes ended and his friends came to visit him though, at least he could talk to them although they didn't know anything more than anymore than Marigold had told him - unfortunately - so talk turned to trivial things. What he'd missed in classes, Albus' excitement that the events 'proved' Vipera was his soulmate and she 'obviously' realized it because she thanked him for helping save her life, Scorpius rolled his eyes but he was glad his friends were alright. And Vipera, he felt like he owed her an apology.

Marigold insisted he stay one more night just be sure but said he could go to classes tomorrow if the night went okay, aside from waking up drenched in sweat again it did so he was allowed back to classes. It wasn't the worst day, they only had the two double classes on Fridays and they were his favorite classes even if the Defense Against the Dark Arts one was the Patronus lesson, Molly also sat with him at breakfast so that was a plus. If his parents weren't still acting like prison guards then he was seriously considering asking Varanian to take him to Diagon Alley to get her her birthday present, she was practically glowing at breakfast. He couldn't help but feel oddly sad that Calderon hadn't visited him in the hospital wing, he missed Calderon.

He was very aware of the Aurors though, the Auror who'd attacked him hadn't been one of the ones Varanian had pointed out as a Shadow Auror. Transfiguration was good, Scorpius enjoyed the practical spellwork and he did like Florian. Scorpius did start to notice something slightly odd though, an unusual number of Gryffindors kept congratulating Michael, people hadn't paid that much attention to his friend since everyone had thought he could resurrect the dead after saving Scorpius. It wasn't until Professor Ashain congratulated him in Defense Against the Dark Arts that Scorpius finally decided to ask him about it, it was odd Michael would brag about what happened... a week ago. Scorpius decided Professor Ashain was right, waking up and finding out a lot of time had passed wasn't fun.

"Why is everyone congratulating you?" Scorpius asked after the professor moved along, "is there just a lot of people who have a crush on Vipera like Albus or something?"

"Oh its not about that," Michael answered blushing, "its about the Quidditch match."

"The Quidditch match?" Scorpius repeated in shock, he'd forgotten about it in the midst of Vipera's attack, "it happened without me?"

"They postponed it until Sunday but you still weren't conscious so... it happened. Didn't you know?"

"Why would I know? I was unconscious for nearly a week!"

"Sorry."

"How did it go?"

"Well, Molly convinced me to play and I guess after what happened it didn't seem as bad. She had to give James Seeker and Roxy his Beater position, since she's a reserve Beater and there's no reserve Seeker."

"Not James," Scorpius groaned putting his head in his hands, "I suck at the other positions, if I get replaced by him then I'll never get to spend any time with Molly."

"I wouldn't worry about that, James didn't catch the Snitch, the Hufflepuff Seeker did."

"_What?!_ He actually lost to the Hufflepuff Seeker?! She's like the worst Seeker in the history of Seekers!" Scorpius protested and Michael just shrugged.

"Well he lost to her, but he was really upset about it, I tried to tell him he did his best and shouldn't feel bad but he just screamed at me and hit the showers."

"Well that's..." Scorpius started to chastise Michael for being nice to James but decided against it, "so how badly did we lose by?"

"We didn't. Hufflepuff caught the Snitch but we still had the most points."

"Really? Hufflepuff has a really good defense."

"Yep, final score was Gryffindor 210 to Hufflepuff 160."

"How many goals did you score?" Scorpius wondered with a delighted smirk.

"Fourteen for me, five for Latimer and two for Caitlin. And the Hufflepuff only got one goal in because Molly was dodging a Bludger to the head at the time."

"See? Didn't I tell you that you'd do great?"

"It was a team effort," Michael protested blushing again.

* * *

_Brutus was feeling immensely guilty as they apparated away to where Pip Varanian and his family were hiding out, despite his issues with Varanian he hadn't wanted the guy to be tortured to death along with his wife and children. He much preferred it when the targets were people he didn't know. At least they were all wearing masks, he didn't want Varanian to know it was him. The last time he'd had to kill someone he knew they had looked at him like a traitor and begged for their life because they knew him - albeit not very well - and he didn't want to go through that again, Achan had actually stepped up and killed the last one because Brutus had actually been feeling sympathy. He thought Varanian was too proud to beg for his life but he might for his family and Ethel probably would._

_He sighed sadly as they emerged in the cold countryside, he wished he'd just kept his mouth shut. Varanian lived - at least did while they were hiding - in an isolated cottage that they were looking down on from the edge of the woods on the hillside, it was in the middle of a field that might once have been a farm, he'd been smart enough to put up anti-apparation wards around it so they'd have to come in by foot but he'd also put wards up to alert him if anyone crossed the threshold of the anti-apparation area. That was the reason they were a fair distance away from it and the only reason they hadn't attacked the quaint little cottage immediately, for a few hopeful minutes Brutus had thought they might pick someone else who was less protected but no._

_Brutus thought it was very typical of Pip Varanian, smart enough to put up defenses but too cocky to realize that leaving would have been the better option because he arrogantly assumed he could handle anything. If he'd thought of what was best for his family rather than his ego than clearly he wouldn't be about to be assaulted by Death Eaters, maybe he deserved to die for being a selfish jerk like that. Brutus flexed his fingers frustratedly, cramming them into five fingered gloves to hide his identity was actually incredibly uncomfortable and almost painful._

_"I hate apparating," Sal grumbled as Rabastan brought her in slight pop, she came to stand beside him looking down at the target, "transport by Specter is much better."_

_"I beg to differ," Brutus complained half-heartedly._

_"Well think about it, they're not bound by anti-apparation wards so we could've attacked them directly and with the element of surprise."_

_"Those things can get past the wards undetected?"_

_"Yep," Sal nodded and jerked her wrist in the direction of the cottage, Brutus was already chilled from the night so he couldn't really feel them as usual, her tone changed from excited to mournful, "watching them right now."_

_"What are they doing?"_

_"The man is telling the children a bedtime story and the woman is singing a lullaby to the baby."_

_"I wish our mother sang us lullabies and our father told us bedtime stories," Tommy pointed out sounding tearful and Brutus realized he'd also come over to them, also trying not to laugh at the mental image of Bellatrix and Voldemort doing things like that._

_"Now he's putting them into bed, wrapping them up in the blankets so they don't get cold and kissing them goodnight."_

_"The woman's still singing, I've never heard singing before. I like it."_

_"I wish our parents were like that too."_

_"We can't attack them, Brutus, those kids are looking forward to Christmas tomorrow, its the baby's first."_

_"We have to attack them," Sal snapped darkly, "if we can't have a good life then why should they?"_

_"Because its nice to know there's not misery somewhere in the world," Tommy protested, "please, Brutus."_

_"Its out of my hands," Brutus told them truthfully._

_"Its starting now," Rodolphus announced drawing the three of them back to the other Death Eaters, "I've put up our own anti-apparation wards in case they lower theirs and try to leave. There's two entrances we can see, Lucius, Selwyn and Rabastan will take the front door and the rest of us will take the back. Lucius, which twin do you want?"_

_"The girl," Lucius said immediately as the Dementors swarmed on poor Tommy._

_"Very well, you get the boy."_

_"I said the girl."_

_"I know," Rodolphus pointed out and Brutus could hear the smirk in his voice even though the Death Eater's face was covered by the mask, "if he misbehaves then take him into another room to torture him, its the only way he'll learn and he can't fight back with the Dementors on him. Let's go."_

_Brutus swallowed nervously as he trudged off with Rodolphus, Loren and Sal, they were moving around to either side to get the shortest path to the door then attacking together. He knew Rodolphus was a cruel sadist but wasn't sure how well he actually did in a duel, he wasn't sure how Loren was in a duel either and actually didn't know a lot about him except that he was a single parent to a daughter starting Hogwarts next year because he frequently used her as an excuse to get off work. He just kept close to Sal, he didn't want her to get hit by a stray spell because there was no way Varanian wasn't going to put up a fight. At least it was easy to tell the twins from the other Death Eaters, they were the shortest - even though Tommy had gotten a bit taller, he was still shorter than them- and Tommy still had his sleeve up to reveal the Dark Mark that Bellatrix had carved into his arm anyway. They got in position and Rodolphus fired the signal into the sky, Brutus grabbed Sal's arm to make sure she could keep up as they ran through the grass as fast as they could._

_"I don't understand," Sal commented to him sounding confused, "they could've escaped but they ran upstairs to get the children, that's only going to slow them down."_

_"That's what non-mudblood parents do," Brutus hissed back, afraid of Loren or Rodolphus hearing._

_"But isn't the woman a-"_

_"Shut up back there!" Rodolphus snarled and Sal fell silent as they reached the back door._

_Rodolphus charged in first with the three of them right on his heels, it was a tiny rustic-looking kitchen with a door almost directly in front of them that Pip Varanian had been coming out of. Brutus nearly froze in panic, he didn't look that much different than when Brutus had last seen him at their graduation, still sporting his favorite scruffy tawny hair with cold ice blue eyes currently, he did look a bit older but not much, he was still only twenty-five. What made Brutus stop though was the baby he was holding in his non-wand arm._

_"Try the other door!" Varanian called over his shoulder backing away, Rodolphus and Loren both cast spells at him that Varanian deflected quickly, already lashing out with his next spell before the shield had finished fading._

_Brutus recognized the Acutus curse as it swiped through Rodolphus and Loren - they were in front of him and Sal - throwing them back, Sal held out her hand and the Death Eaters' bodies swerved to one side instead of crashing into them. The baby started crying from the disrupting commotion, Varanian's severe expression wavered as he spared a glance for his child and hugged it closer. Brutus knew then that Varanian would lose, they were reasonably evenly matched in a duel but his movements were hindered by the baby and he was distracted by thoughts of protecting his family instead of being wholly focused on the duel. It was the easiest and fastest duel against Varanian that Brutus had ever had, he had him backed into the front room and disarmed in minutes before Rodolphus and Loren rejoined the fray. Varanian still looked like he was going to make another go for his wand before he noticed one of the others already had his wife and kids at wand point, the only sound was the baby crying. Brutus wished he was anywhere but there._

* * *

Scorpius actually was impressed with himself that lesson, his silver wisps was more like the silver windows most of the class could cast. Of course he was left utterly exhausted, he hoped when he lay down to sleep that he wouldn't wake up again in days. Thankfully it was Saturday when he got up although he was still tired, it was the last taster session and he didn't want to miss it. It was Divination with the blind Elina. He spent breakfast listening to Rose rant incessantly about how completely useless and inaccurate Divination was and how everyone who practiced it was a delusional insane fraud and Copper agreed with, Scorpius felt rather like he was having a muggle drill bored into his skull. Rose really did not like Divination.

Again the Great Hall was filled with chairs but this time they were arranged in a kind of semi-circle facing the center of the room where there was a chair. They actually got seats right at the front, not everyone was so keen to sit so close in case they were called on as volunteers or simply didn't want to be near the woman missing her eyes. Rose was sitting with them until Copper came over, he threw a disgusted look at Michael - who was sitting to Rose's left - for so brief a second that he may not have done it all before he grinned with his oddly white looking teeth at Rose and offered out his hand for her to take.

"Come on, Rose, let's go sit with my friends further back," Copper offered kindly.

"No, I want to sit near the front so I get a close up look on what a complete fraud this woman is. Wanna join me?" Rose countered sweetly patting the empty seat to her right.

"Well erm... how about we sit over there? Its still at the front," Copper commented gesturing to a more distant part of the circle.

"Why not here? I always sit with your friends, why not sit here with me and mine?"

"You get a better view."

"Not really," Abby pointed out.

"Yeah, you're very welcome to sit with us," Albus added and Copper seemed to be struggling to think of an excuse to not to, Rose scowled at him and opened her mouth to speak before they were interrupted by Elina's arrival.

"Sit down everyone," Elina told them coming into the area the chairs were facing, Rose pulled Copper into the chair beside her before he could protest or move away as the blind woman went over to the central seat and sat down, casting a smile at the assembled students she couldn't see, "I am Elina Olga-Vasille, the new Divination professor. For those of you who don't know, Divination is the branch of magic focused on foreseeing future and gathering insight into future events. Its not a very cut and dry subject, sometimes there's no clear answer and its not the easiest of subjects to master. There are a lot of critics and skeptics on the subject, I'm sure there are some in this room. Before I continue let me just say that this session is designed to give _you_ a better understanding of what you'll be learning should you take this subject so if you have any questions just interrupt me at any time, I'm blind so raising your hands is rather pointless."

"Shouldn't you know whose going to ask questions since you can see the future and all?" Rose called out rather rudely.

"Ah, the first skeptic," Elina said oddly brightly as she smiled at Rose, if Scorpius couldn't see the vacant holes where her eyes would be then he would think she was looking at her although he did notice her eyelids were drooped slightly, "this answer probably won't satisfy you but its the truth, what you are talking about is a common misconception, it is actually near impossible to predict your own future and any Divinator who tells you so is not worth listening to, predicting other people's is a yes but not your own. It would be rather contradictory if you could, for example say a man had been invited to a ball for the following day and he needed to buy dress robes as he had none, he wants to see how it will go so he looks into his own future and sees that he never makes it to the ball, a rogue dragon attacks Diagon Alley while he's buying dress robes and he is injured so he cannot go to the ball.

"Horrified, the man avoids going to Diagon Alley so he is not injured in the attack and simply wears his old tattered dress robes where he is humiliated. Since seeing that would change his future so that he doesn't go to Diagon Alley and get injured which means what he saw was no longer the future, so really he should have seen himself going to the ball in tattered robes and being humiliated which confuses him so he just goes to Diagon Alley to get new dress robes and is injured by the dragon thus what he saw was no longer the future. Seeing the original future stops it from being true which means he can't actually see the future.

"Its confusing isn't it? You see why predicting the future isn't so simple as skeptical people believe it should be, however if you think it through slowly and carefully then it makes sense which is what Divination is all about. Seeing the future isn't as hard as understanding what you see, misinterpretation is easy unfortunately, that and certain individuals damper the credibility of the subject. I dedicated my life to it, I've traveled the world and tried to learn as much as I can, there are some incredibly talented people out there but also some terrible frauds. Divination is also not just limited to magic-users, Centaurs have their own way of Divination and I was lucky enough to be here during a time when a Centaur was teaching. I will talk more about that in my class.

"The most well-known methods of Divination are the ones I'll be teaching you, those who take the class, briefly they are; Astrology which is to do with using the planets and stars, I won't be teaching Arithmancy as it is complex enough to have its own subject but I will touch upon it as Heptomology is related to it which is to do with using numbers to predict the future as well, Palmistry which is palm-reading, Pyromancy or Fire-Omens which shockingly involves fire, Cartomancy which is using Tarot cards, Tessomancy which is reading tea leaves, Crystal-Gazing which is seeing into a crystal ball, Ornithomancy which is involving birds - having your own owl will be useful here, Ovomancy which uses eggs - I know it sounds odd but is actually one of the easiest methods for beginners to pick up, Xylomancy which is an often overlooked method using twigs, we will also be looking at analyzing dreams and as I've mentioned the Centaur way, I will also talk about prophecies and Seers although there is only one Seer in the school and she's not in this year. Any questions?"

"Why don't you have eyes?" the Slytherin boy who never put his hand up before speaking in Defense Against the Dark Arts blurted out, he was sitting at the front like they were and the girl next to him hissed at him that he was being rude.

"Its quite alright, its natural to be curious," Elina said surprisingly, "I meant questions about Divination but I don't mind saying, during the Second Wizarding War a Death Eater gouged out my eyes."

"Didn't see that one coming," Copper snickered to Rose quietly but from the way Elina's head tilted, Scorpius realized she'd heard even before she replied.

"No I did not see it coming, as I've already mentioned its near-impossible to predict your own future and I was only a teenager at the time."

"Why didn't you get prosthetic eyes?" Michael asked cautiously.

"At the time I just could not afford it."

"And now?"

"Now?" Elina repeated and smiled a sad but knowing smile, "now maybe I just have the same reservations as you have about them. Besides, I don't need eyes to see the future, I see with my soul not my sight."

"Well that's just stupid," Rose complained under her breath although Michael looked taken aback but again Elina seemed to hear as she shrugged.

"You're entitled to believe what you want, nothing I can say or do is going to convince you anyway, you already have your mind made up on the subject and on me. Divination isn't for everyone - then again, what is? - and you've already closed yourself off to any possibility of it being anything other than a waste of time, you want to be right about that so even if you tried the subject it wouldn't work because at the back of your mind you don't want it to and magic - _all_ magic, not just Divination - comes from within, meaning if you truly believe something won't work and don't want it to then it won't because magic's obeying your subconscious."

Rose fell silent at this as did Copper, apparently giving up saying anything behind Elina's back when she was capable of hearing and calling them out on it. The rest of the session was her talking in more detail about Divination and answering the questions thrown at her, it was really odd to have a teacher who actively encouraged speaking out of turn. In honesty Scorpius liked her, he'd been skeptical on Divination too but she made it sound a lot more plausible and possible than Professor Trelawny ever had. At any rate she'd given them a lot to think about as they filed out of the hall when the session was over, it was only after they got outside the hall that Scorpius realized Michael wasn't with them and glancing back he noticed he'd stayed back to talk to Elina.

"What are we waiting for?" Copper wondered with a grin, also seeming to notice Michael's absence as his friends rejoined him and them, "let's go hit the library."

"We need to wait for Michael," Scorpius pointed out.

"No we don't, come on."

"Why?" Albus asked looking confused, "what's a few minutes for waiting for our friend?"

"Well what's he actually going to learn in the library anyway? Its not like he can read."

"He's Dyslexic not illiterate," Abby added scowling.

"You don't... You don't have a problem with Michael, do you?" Rose questioned looking concerned, Copper's eyes bulged and he glanced around awkwardly as if trying to think of the best direction to run to get out of there, either mentally or physically.

"I just don't like him," Copper said slowly but his voice increased in confidence as he went on, "he just leeches onto you guys because you're better than him, he's a loser and you all aren't."

"Michael's not a loser."

"Yes he is and he's just using you all."

"No he's not!" Rose protested as her face turned as red as her hair with anger "if you knew him at all then you'd know he's not that kind of person."

"Or he's just a good actor!" Copper snapped back finding his voice more firmly and Rose backed away slightly, Scorpius didn't think she'd seen that time of him before, "the guy's a loser, he's stupid and manipulative and holding you all back! And I don't know how any of you put up with him! You're the children of heroes! Or teachers or have actually done something heroic yourselves but he's just... nothing! And with that disgusting eye and that hideous scar across his face, I don't know how you can look at him let alone consider yourself friends with such a useless leech!"

"How _dare_ you talk about my friend that way!"

"No, you know what since you're my girlfriend I forbid you to be friends with him!"

"You can't forbid me from being friends with him!"

"Fine then, here's an ultimatum! Either ditch the zero or lose the hero, stop being friends with Michael or stop dating me!" Copper roared and the anger drained from Rose's face as she just looked horrified by the choice, tears pricked her eyes.

"That's not fair," Rose muttered miserably but Copper folded his arms firmly, his jaw set determinedly.

"Life's not fair. Pick. Its not a difficult decision."

"Please don't do this," Rose pleaded tearfully but Copper still didn't budge, the tears started seeping from her eyes before she spoke again, "you're right, its not a difficult decision."

"Glad you see things my way," Copper smirked.

"I pick Michael. Friends before boyfriends who give their girlfriends unfair ultimatums."

"What..." Copper started but trailed off seemingly absolutely stunned by this, he blinked a few times in surprise before anger flashed in his eyes, "fine then! We're through then!"

With that Copper stormed off furiously with his friends hastily jogging to keep up with him, Rose just stood there looking stunned as the tears started streaming from her eyes as she sobbed. Scorpius just stared after Copper in equal surprise before he noticed Michael returning, oblivious to the conflict just waged over him. He saw Rose and immediately was overtaken with concern.

"What's wrong?" Michael asked gently and Rose looked at him, red-eyed from tears as she glared at him before running off crying.


	53. II: Fighting Back

_**Author's Note: **Big thanks to Winged-panther1 for reviewing! Have some cake and cookies. By the way is anyone curious/cares at all who Michael's crush is? I meant to put it in this chapter but cut it to make it shorter (is actually the fifth time I've wrote it then cut it in favor of other things) but since we're getting so near the end, if anyone is interested then I'll make sure to put it in if not I'll just leave it to III where it is actually more important_

* * *

_Brutus just tried to stare at a particularly uninteresting corner of the room, he didn't want to watch Pip Varanian and Ethel Embry be tortured as much as he disliked the guy, he disliked watching people be tortured even more. He only looked up when he was called upon to heal one of them, shoddy had been a very apt word for his healing skills. Rodolphus had stayed true to his word about not hurting the children but he'd also stayed true to his word on killing them, their bodies had at least been moved respectfully out of the way but he still preferred staring at the corner so he didn't have to look at the Christmas tree with presents or the children's toys dotted around. He could still hear screaming though, Rodolphus had moved onto Imperising them to torture each other, they'd been at it for hours and even the sadistic Rodolphus seemed to have been running out of ideas. Ethel was the torturer, he wished Varanian would go back to not screaming._

_"Now Tommy," Lucius told the poor boy as he brought him back into the room again from being punished, Brutus glanced up and saw the two Dementors were actually gripping the trembling boy's arms, Tommy alone had taken off his mask off for... Brutus didn't even know why, his face was tear-stained and his dark eyes were pits of guilt, "if you complain, cry, yell for it to stop or try to stop it one more time then so help me I'll have you dragged back to Azkaban the second we step foot out of this house. Do you understand?"_

_"Its not fair," Tommy whimpered and Brutus realized the screaming had stopped._

_"Alright, she's breaking free," Rodolphus announced gleefully, "time to swap."_

_Brutus spared a look at the action to see one of the others snatching the wand off Ethel and shoving her to the ground beside her husband, she was sobbing and apologizing as Varanian sat up and put his arms around her to hold her tight, his mouth was moving but Brutus wasn't close enough to hear what he was saying. Rodolphus Imperised him next though, Varanian punched his wife before he got to his feet and was handed the wand Ethel had been using and turning it on his wife to cruciate her. Rodolphus laughed in amusement as the mudblood screamed and Brutus started to turn back to his wall, catching a glimpse of Tommy as the fifteen year old clenched his fist._

_Brutus wasn't sure if it was just perfect timing or Tommy just noticed first or Tommy actually did something but a second later Rodolphus stopped laughing and Ethel stopped screaming, he looked back to Varanian to see he must have broken free and went to move his wand arm to subdue him as did the others but it was too late. Varanian launched a spell at the ground that made it pulse out and throw them all - Brutus included - off their feet with more people's wands also having been thrown from their grip. Tommy yelped a frustratingly high-pitched yelp that made Brutus wish his voice would break already, as Brutus sat up he saw Tommy was still on his feet but only because the Dementors had dug their nails - did they have nails? - into his arm so forcefully._

_It happened so fast and all at once. Varanian aimed for them next, launching a silvery Patronus at them with the wand and offering a hand to help Ethel to her feet with the other hand. The other Death Eaters and Brutus were sitting up and scrambling for their wands as the Patronus was driving off the Dementors but Sal just held out her palm at the couple, a jet of green light shot from her palm and everyone else but Ethel - who noticed as she went to pick up a wand - was too distracted to notice it heading for Varanian._

_"Pip!" Ethel cried desperately as she threw herself in the path of the magic, the jet of light struck her in the back and she was dead as she collapsed against her husband._

_It was sad how Brutus had once wished Varanian would have nothing and when he actually had nothing, Brutus got no pleasure from it. Varanian was so shocked he dropped the wand to hold his dead wife with both hands, he didn't blink as his eyes watered, too stunned to react. His legs trembled before the five jets of magic hit him to subdue him to the ground, he fell on his side beside his wife's body as tears escaped his eyes. Brutus looked back to Sal who was getting to her feet, he should have been more surprised than he was that she'd just taken a life but he wasn't, he wished she wasn't wearing a mask because he wanted to see her face, was she pleased? Guilty? Did she feel anything?_

_"Okay this has gone on long enough," Rodolphus decided hauling Varanian magically to his feet, his eyes were still on Ethel, "time to die, traitor."_

_"Then go ahead you coward, if I break free again I'm killing you," Varanian snapped and actually managed to make it sound threatening despite the fact he was crying._

_Instead of replying Rodolphus simply waved his wand and another slash appeared in Varanian's already torn up muggle clothes, Varanian didn't scream although he did tense and pain crossed his face. Rodolphus rather liked using that spell as it slashed him deeply as if mauled by an animal, Brutus couldn't heal it completely but he could stop the bleeding to keep him alive although he correctly guessed he wasn't going to heal him anymore._

_"You know I actually think you people are the worst," Rodolphus told his prisoner, "muggles and mudbloods are filth, half-bloods aren't much better but they can't help they were just born wrong but blood traitors? You could've had everything but you turn away from it, betray your own blood and for what? Filth? Is it not odd to be so protective of a lump of dirt?"_

_"Are you going to kill me or just lecture me on your ridiculous racist beliefs?" Varanian shot back and launched a kick at Rodolphus despite being in the air, it actually struck the Death Eater's knee. Rodolphus growled angrily and slashed with his wand again, this time making air into fists to beat him before letting him drop to the ground completely battered again, Rodolphus still aimed a much more effective kick at him out of spite._

_"I'm going to burn you alive, you'll have plenty of time to think about the errors of your life and I'll make sure you last as long as possible. Any last words?"_

_"See you in hell."_

_Brutus just watched as Varanian was magically bound at his ankles and wrists, his wrists being tied up against the ceiling light. It was very rushed and he realized Tommy was the reason, the Dementors had been successfully driven off but the boy seemed to stunned to do anything, he was still staring at Ethel's body unmoving. Brutus gently guided him outside but kept looking back in as they finished using whatever spells they were using to ensure a slow, painful death for Varanian. The flames started before anyone had raised their wands and they hurried out as the fire spread shockingly fast, it was Sal who'd done it although he wasn't sure whether it was purposely or not. They started to head back towards the treeline where they could apparate, Varanian's screams tarnishing the night once more._

_"Why do you do it?!" Tommy shrieked so suddenly and so high-pitched that Brutus jumped, seeing Tommy had slipped over towards Sal and was confronting her furiously, blood colored crimson lights were blazing around him, "you killed that woman! You killed her!"_

_"Tommy," Rodolphus growled threateningly going to raise his wand but Tommy was faster and Tommy looked pissed, he shot his arm towards Rodolphus and a burst of magic shot out. Brutus was unconscious before the light tossed him and the others through the air and onto the unforgiving ground._

* * *

"Did I miss something?" Michael asked anxiously looking between them while Albus glared in the direction Copper had left in before stalking off while Abby started off after Rose.**  
**

"Err... yeah," Scorpius pointed out starting to follow Albus, "I'm going to go see where he's going, you go ask Abby to fill you in."

Michael still looked immensely confused as Scorpius hurried away, he wasn't very good at comforting people anyway and he didn't really want to tell Michael that he was the reason Rose had broken up with Copper. Scorpius didn't seeing his friend hurt and upset but good riddance to Copper, Michael however would probably feel bad. Also Scorpius was confused why Albus would randomly run off like that, Scorpius actually had to jog to catch up to him because he was walking so fast. He had his wand out.

"Where are you going?" Scorpius inquired with a scowl, Albus was looking incredibly determined and fury brewed beneath his emerald eyes.

"To get Copper," Albus spat darkly, "he insulted one of my best friends and made my cousin cry. _No one_ treats my cousin that way."

"So what are you going to-"

"Hey Copper!" Albus yelled interrupting him as they came into view of Copper and his friends, Copper turned around just in time to see Albus cast the Bat-Bogey Hex. Copper was fast though, he threw himself out of the way to dodge the jet of light and had his wand out by the time he was back on his feet.

"_Expelliarmus!_" Copper cried before he was fully back on his feet, Albus didn't start moving in time to dodge and his wand went flying away from his hand before Copper was upright again, the Ravenclaw smirked triumphantly, "nice try, Pot-"

He was cut off as Albus jumped at him, seeming to decide if beat Copper with magic then he'd simply beat him. Copper was so surprised he didn't have time to defend himself as he was knocked to the ground with a fist in his face, he dropped his wand in an effort to try shield his face as Albus went to punch again. And again. Copper shrieked for help and his friends were jolted to action, the duo drew their wands to duel with Albus who was still on top of Copper beating him, yelling insults at how dare Copper treat Rose like that.

Scorpius also drew his wand to protect his friend and disarmed the faster of the Ravenclaws before he could curse Albus, the other one turned on Scorpius instead and tried to disarm him. Varanian's training kicked in and he dodged effortlessly already fighting back with the same spell, the scrawny boy jumped out of the way carelessly and slammed himself into the wall, his wand dropped from his fingers as he rubbed his shoulder. The other boy had retrieved his wand and lost the element of surprise by screaming 'Exelliarmus' at him, his aim was pretty bad and Scorpius basically just had to side-step to avoid as he disarmed the boy yet again. He was trying to decide whether he should do a Maurice and body-bind them or just keep them at bay, he kept aiming his wand at one then shifting which was working before a prefect came upon them.

"Hey, hey, what is this?! Stop fighting!" Hal demanded authoritatively as he came from one of the other corridors, Albus didn't stop though and actually Scorpius wasn't sure he could hear him over his yelling. Hal instead drew his wand and nonverbally cast Albus away from the Ravenclaw, Albus' eyes blazed with rage but dimmed when he noticed the prefect, Copper just lay there clutching his face, blood was streaming from his nose, "fighting is not permitted in Hogwarts, ten points from Ravenclaw and Gryffindor house. Now get your friend to the hospital wing and be grateful I don't give you detention."

"Okay," one of Copper's friends mumbled meekly as he helped Copper to his feet, the other scooped up the fallen wands before they left.

"Now you on the other hand," Hal pointed out nodding at Albus as he got to the feet, "you _do_ have a detention."

"Typical jerk Slytherin," Albus muttered under his breath.

"I'll talk to Professor Vipera today, go to her classroom after lunch for your detention."

"Does he have to?" Scorpius pleaded with Hal, their parents were friends and the sixth year had been good to him since he started Hogwarts out of guilt for feeling responsible for Scorpius' abduction. While Scorpius liked how Hal seemed to have become a much better person, he did feel bad that Hal was so guilt-ridden, after all since he now knew the Shadows were involved it probably wouldn't have made a difference what Hal did. Hal's expression wavered guiltily and Scorpius knew he'd give in, even though he would have punished any other student that wasn't Scorpius' friend.

"I suppose I could let him off since I've never caught him breaking the rules before," Hal said slowly but Albus looked horrified.

"No, no, I did wrong and I totally deserve to be punished by Vipera," Albus spoke up eagerly and Scorpius rolled his eyes.

"Nevermind," Scorpius sighed, "but thanks anyway Hal."

Albus had gone from enraged to excited out of his mind, Scorpius had to endure Albus' rant about how great it was to have given Copper what was coming to him and been lucky enough to get a 'date' with Vipera for it. Albus spent the rest of the time before lunch changing his clothes and brushing his hair to try make it neater because he wanted to look his best for Vipera, Scorpius wished he could go with the others but he had actually didn't know where they were as they weren't in the Common Room and he was too tired to be bothered to scour the castle for them. Plus he assumed he'd see them at lunch.

Michael and the girls did show up at lunch, Rose was no longer crying but wasn't cheerful and Michael had to do his plate-switching to get her to eat something. Copper was there healed, he kept his head down the entire meal while his friends shot glares in their direction. Albus dominated the conversation telling them about his 'date' with Vipera, Scorpius didn't think anyone had ever been so excited for a detention. While Albus was at detention the rest of them spent the day in the Gryffindor Common Room doing their homework to take Rose's mind off Copper and to avoid the risk of running into him by using the library. Albus was already at the table at dinner, staring dreamily in Vipera's direction as they ate but didn't rant about the detention.

"So how did it go?" Scorpius finally asked, having a feeling he'd regret it.

"She's in love with me," Albus sighed happily, "I told you we were destined to be together, soul mates for all time."

"Did she actually say that?" Abby wondered dubiously.

"She said 'I feel kind of bad giving you a detention after you practically saved my life', read between the lines though, she loves me back."

"You're an idiot," Maurice said plainly but it didn't dampen his spirit.

"An idiot in love, you're just jealous."

"Jealous of what? Insanity?" Maurice scoffed and shook his head, "relationships are a completely pointless waste of time and effort."

"I can't believe that I actually agree with you for once," Rose muttered shaking her head, Maurice looked triumphant.

"See, even Rose agrees with me. Relationships are completely pointless and fantasizing about a relationship that is never going to happen is even more pointless, there's nothing to gain but everything to lose because it distracts from things that actually matter like studying and since relationships always end badly you're just guaranteed to get upset even though you should be celebrating the end of a valueless exercise."

"Not all relationships end badly," Albus protested while Rose looked like she was having an epiphany.

"Merlin help me but you're actually right, Maurice, I should be celebrating not being upset. Who needs him? He was just a selfish jerk."

"I'm always right," Maurice pointed out arrogantly with one of his cold smiles but Rose didn't seem to care for once.

"You know what, Maurice? Fine," Albus stated suddenly, "I don't want to argue with you and ruin my dinner but you're allowed to make your point. Meet me in the Common Room when everyone is going to bed and we'll talk about it then, if you can convince me you're right about relationships then I'll never insult your father again."

"Alright, you're on."

Albus' good mood seemed to return at this and the conversation went back to normal things without arguing, Scorpius did think it was weird about Albus' offer or maybe he was just trying to find a way to shut Maurice at meals by promising to make good on talking to him about his points after then not showing up. Scorpius was surprised when Albus did actually go down to the Common Room while they were getting ready for bed, however he was back in just a few minutes and snuggled into bed happily. Scorpius scowled as he climbed into his own bed, he supposed Albus had just told Maurice to shut up and left.

* * *

Michael was having a hard time sleeping that night, he tossed and turned but his head was pounding no matter what way he lay. He supposed it probably didn't matter, his mind wouldn't stop thinking anyway, about Rose having broken up with Copper because of him. He managed to feel guilty and glad at the same time which just made him feel guiltier. He sighed and buried his head in his pillow again, willing himself to sleep. He wasn't sure if he succeeded or was just drifting off when he heard the door creak, he jolted awake in panic for a second irrationally fearing it was Bob coming to drag him back home or an Auror coming to torture him or a werewolf just coming to shred everyone - it wasn't like Hogwarts was safe, nowhere was.

He took a deep breath and reached out his wand, at least knowing he could at least try to defend himself and the others made him feel better as he cautiously and quietly got out of bed to see it was actually none of the things he had thought it was. It was Maurice, his face blotchy from bruises and blood seeping from his nose and mouth. Michael didn't hesitate to go to help the younger boy, he led him out of the dormitory into the Second Year Boys' bathroom where he could get a better look without waking up the others.

Maurice opened his mouth, either trying to speak or just showing him his broken teeth which was very reminiscent of James. He used the same spell to repair the damage, it worked immediately and flawlessly fixing Maurice's teeth just as it had with James. Michael was still surprised it worked, the last time he'd done it on James had been the very first time he'd used the spell and spells never worked for him first time or even the second, it struggled with multiple attempts before they worked and even then it took even more attempts before they worked properly. On top of that, healing magic wasn't supposed to be easy yet he felt naturally more inclined to it.

He recalled another of the spells from the healing books and cast it on Maurice before he could think better of it, it worked on the eye it was aimed at and Maurice's ocean colored right eye became clear again. He tried it again and again until the majority of the visible bruises were faded away and most of the ones hidden by Maurice's ruffled robes, he was impressed that it worked but found himself teetering on the windowsill. Healing magic was also known for sapping your strength a lot faster than normal spells, you had to put your own energy into healing or alternatively you absorbed their injury because transfer was easier than repairing. That was what Michael had tried for the bruises as it was the easiest according to the books, the bruises transferred on Michael weren't visible but he ached familiarly.

"Thank you," Maurice told him quietly as he put a hand to his translator necklace, his expression was as neutral as ever, Michael would have nodded if he wasn't afraid it would make him pass out.

"What happened?" Michael asked.

"I came down to argue my point to Albus like we said but he said he couldn't hear with all the noise in the Common Room, suggested we go to an empty classroom and said the closest he knew. He was in his pajamas so he said for me to go on and he'd join me just as soon as he pulled on something for his feet so I went to the classroom and someone hit me from behind with a spell that stopped me from moving, then James and his friends beat me up, tied me up and put me in a cupboard, James kicked my teeth in before taking away the movement spell and left me there," Maurice explained sounding almost on the verge of tears but none came, if Michael wasn't feeling so drained he might have gone to wake Albus up immediately to demand an explanation, "I only got free just now and came to you because you're good at healing."

"Why not just go to the hospital wing?"

"And admit I let myself get attacked?"

"You say it almost like its shameful."

"It is shameful," Maurice protested stubbornly, "it proves you're weak and that's something to be ashamed of."

"No, cursing an eleven year old while their back is turned to make them incapable of defending themselves while you beat them up is shameful," Michael pointed out firmly, "they're two or three whole years older than you."

"I didn't say they were in the right, it was indecent of them to not fight face to face. But its still shameful, if I was stronger or even if I could've heard that spell coming then I could have defended myself. There's a war happening and we're all soldiers and I have to be able to defend myself, everyone does or they'll die, only the strong will survive."

"We're not soldiers, we're kids."

"That doesn't matter. My father shipped me off to my first school when I was two years old, the first thing they tell you is that you're a soldier, if you're strong then you'll succeed and if you're weak then you'll die."

"This same school that condones making children write in their blood to scar their skin?" Michael said as he scowled, "real good school that."

"Its a great school," Maurice told him defensively, "and they do that to make sure you learn and that's far from the worst thing they do anyway."

"What... What else do they do?" Michael wondered with morbid curiosity, magic schools were definitely not as safe as muggle schools. Maurice hesitated as if unsure whether he should tell him.

"Do you know what the Cruciatus Curse is?" Maurice asked and Michael nodded with a suppressed shiver as memories of jarring pain flickered in the corners of his mind for a moment, "they use that on you, to punish rule breaking and for teaching. They use it to teach you to resist torture, for example being told a word and the torturer tries to make you tell them by torturing you with _Crucio_. Its not permanently physically damaging and they stop when you reach the point where it becomes a risk to your sanity, you have to learn to hold on until then. If the enemy did torture you to that point then the word would be safely locked in your mind forever so as long as you can hold on until then the secret's safe or the torturer wants you to do something and you have to refuse it."

"That's just sick."

"It is really horrible, I have nightmares about it sometimes," Maurice admitted before giving a weak cold smile sadly, "but it works, I can last it now."

"That doesn't make it right, how can you think its a great school?"

"Because I learned more from that school to prepare me for the war than Beauxbatons and Hogwarts put together, at the end of the day the ability to survive through the war is more important than your wellbeing and happiness."

"And you sure it was a real school and not just a bunch of psychos?" Michael asked worriedly.

"Of course, in fact I've seen two of the teachers here at Hogwarts. One is an Auror now and one actually teaches here now."

"You're not serious? Which teacher?"

"I can't tell you that, he told me not to say."

"And you don't have to do everything he wants," Michael pointed out feeling suddenly fearful of his Hogwarts teachers, or at least the male ones as Maurice had said 'he'.

"But I like him," Maurice protested looking offending, "he asked me for a favor and I'm obliging. If it makes you feel better he wasn't the one who taught resisting torture."

"Well what about the one that's an Auror, did he tell you not to say?"

"No but since you don't know the Auror's names then telling you he's called Ellisar won't narrow down who he is," Maurice told him before something dawned on Michael.

"Wait, they told you were a soldier in a war when you were two? I thought the who Shadows was all just happening recently?"

"Divination," Maurice shrugged dismissively.

"Okay," Michael said with a nod, even more sure that he was taking Divination, "but you really think your father is a good person when he sends you to a school that tortures you?"

"Didn't your mother do the same?"

"She didn't know Varanian was torturing me."

"My father didn't know either," Maurice pointed out defensively, "in fact he pulled me out when he realized that, if I had of known then I wouldn't have said anything. He only started making me use the blood quill himself after I started Beauxbatons. He is a good father, he hugged me twice that I can remember."

"He's only hugged you twice?" Michael repeated feeling slightly more grateful for Jack, he could be worse.

"Yes, when he pulled me out of that first school and after the Aurors questioned him for the first time about the missing boy. That's why I know he wasn't involved, he was really upset and that's the first time I've ever seen him upset," Maurice told him and Michael sighed, he wasn't going to convince him right then.

"So I suppose it'd be too much to ask that you tell a teacher what James and his friends did to you so they can be punished?"

"Yes it would be too much to ask, I'm going to kill them myself."

"Don't do that," Michael groaned as Maurice got up, "at least sleep on it."

"Fine, I'll sleep on," Maurice agreed, "come on then, let's get back to bed."

They headed out to the dormitories, it was only five to a room so there were actually more than one dormitory for each year although each year had their own bathroom that all dormitories in that year shared. Actually Michael didn't think Maurice was allowed in the second year bathroom that he'd taken him into, then again boys weren't allowed in girls dormitories but he had been earlier when Abby insisted on dragging him up to help deal with Rose. He and Maurice were about to separate and turn into their respective year dorms when he heard a bizarre clunk coming, he blinked in shock and glanced over to the second year dormitory it had came from.

"What is it?" Maurice asked in puzzlement, unable to hear the sound.

There was another clunk and Scorpius stumbled out, falling flat on his face. Shocked, Michael and Maurice ran over to him and offered him a hand up but instead he started trying to crawl with his left hand and get up awkwardly by himself, Michael was about to ask him what he was doing when he noticed Scorpius' eyes were closed as he staggered, walking rather like a zombie in the movies, towards the steps leading down to the Common Room before falling flat on his face again. Again the fall apparently didn't wake him.

Michael thought it was odd, he didn't remember Scorpius sleepwalking before although there had been that time he started a fire in his sleep, you never knew with Scorpius. He sighed and went to help his friend up before Maurice levitated him, Michael opened the doors for Maurice to guide Scorpius back to his bed. For the third time that year, Michael got Scorpius back into bed and closed the drapes the way Scorpius liked it before bidding Maurice a goodnight and climbing back into his own bed. Unlike before, he fell asleep really quickly although it was troubled, nightmares plagued his dreams.

* * *

Scorpius woke up feeling incredibly tired, if he hadn't got a super long essay that Grant wanted first thing tomorrow to write then he might have simply skipped breakfast and had a lie in. Also he was hungry. He got up and ready to find he was actually the first of his friends up, Angelo and Reuben had gone but Albus and Michael were both still asleep. It wasn't unusual for Albus to oversleep but not Michael, he was always the first one up and the one who got them up on the weekdays for classes.

Michael was curled up lying on his side, his eyes were both closed and the scarred side of his face was buried in the pillow making him look normal again, like he had before Scorpius had injured him. He looked very young without it as he slept, he had very delicate features and was small for his age - all four of their first year friends were taller than him, the bed looked too big for him. On the other end of the spectrum, Albus was sprawled out at a bizarre angle with his mouth wide open. Scorpius woke them up, Albus didn't mind getting up since he'd developed a crush on Vipera and Michael just nodded and closed the drapes to change.

"You know you were sleepwalking last night?" Michael commented to him as they headed down the Grand Staircase to breakfast.

"No, I didn't," Scorpius told him truthfully, "but I did it a few times at home, I never made it out of my room though."

"I'm surprised you didn't wake up, you fell flat on your face twice. Maurice had to levitate you back to bed."

"Maurice?" Albus repeated in surprise, "why were you hanging out with Maurice in the middle of the night?"

"I don't know, maybe because your brother attacked him and he wanted me to help him so I did," Michael snapped with uncharacteristic anger that made Albus jump, "what is wrong with you?! Why did you set up an _eleven year old_ to have the crap beaten out of him?! Do you have any idea what that feels like?!"

"James just wanted me to help to get back at Maurice for _attacking_ them before! - And by the way, thank you so much for telling me about it the both of you! - But I've been putting it off since Christmas because I had a feeling you'd be mad at me but he deserves it!" Albus shot back.

"What Maurice did was wrong but aside from kicking James' teeth he actually just used the body-bind curse on them in defense when James was bullying Orous, they want justice they should have told a damn teacher instead of jinxing a deaf boy while his back is turned so they beat him up! What is wrong with you!?"

"What? James told me Maurice hurt them really badly not just used the body bind curse on them," Albus said looking genuinely surprised.

"Well James doesn't exaggerate at all," Scorpius muttered sarcastically and Albus looked glum.

"It doesn't even matter what he did!" Michael continued still looking livid, "_no one_ deserves to be beaten! If you had any idea what that feels like then you'd understand."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know they were going to hurt him so badly," Albus protested and Michael snorted in disgust, "I didn't! I never asked what they were going to do."

"Because you didn't want to know and you didn't care," Michael pointed out bitterly and Albus didn't say anything as they continued down the steps in cold silence.

When they reached the bottom, Scorpius actually noticed Maurice was standing leaning against the wall with his arms folded and watching the moving staircases darkly. They moved over to him cautiously, he flicked Albus a murderous look.

"Go away, Albus," Maurice told him forcefully, Albus seemed to sense they wanted to talk to Maurice and went to go stand by the door.

"What are you doing?" Scorpius asked after gesturing for Maurice to use his translator necklace which he did.

"Waiting."

"Waiting for what?"

"HEY JAMES!" Maurice bellowed deafeningly loudly.

Scorpius spun to see James and his friends coming down the Grand Staircase, they were almost on the second floor. He looked back at Maurice to see his wand was out in a flash aimed at the bullies, his habit of whispering incantations made it hard to know the spell he used but the people on the staircase yelled as it abruptly started to move in time with Maurice's wand before he flicked it again and the steps snapped down to make a slope that the students started to slip down on. Maurice expressionlessly waved his wand a few times in rapid succession, those who weren't James and his friends stayed stuck in place while the bullies fell.

For a split second Scorpius was about to help them, his hand was poised to draw his wand and stop them from hitting the ground but he stopped. Why should he save them? They'd been nothing but horrible to him and to his friends, if not for James then Michael would never have gotten hurt, Orous had been through more than enough and Vern was too loyal to the cousin that hated him to tell anyone, he'd beaten Maurice for defending them. James and his friends were bad people, they deserved to suffer.

"_Immobulus!_" Michael cried shattering Scorpius' thoughts as he aimed his wand at the falling boys who came to a halt mid-air, Michael never had been good at the spell in class - Grant had mocked him for it - and they came crashing down to the ground regardless, although from a less greater height. Maurice turned to look at him with a hand on his translator necklace but Michael spoke before he could, "what are you trying to do? Kill them?"

"I told you I would," Maurice commented the oceans of his eyes were icy but were watery as if he gleaning with tears that wouldn't fall, Scorpius wasn't actually sure whether he was joking or not, "they hurt me, why should they get away with it? Why did you help them? Scorpius didn't."

"Because it was the right thing to do," Michael said quietly while Albus came rushing over to the fallen boys with a teacher he must have gotten when Maurice attacked, Scorpius felt as though he'd been slapped in the face. He always tried to do the right thing, he should have helped James even if he hated him, he could have stopped them falling better than Michael had. What was wrong with him? And then Scorpius noticed it, Maurice's wand was now aimed at the ground but he was gripping it so tightly he was sure his knuckles were white behind the leather. But what drew his attention was the dissipating ring of fire circling Maurice's wrist.


	54. II: The Choices We Make

_**Thanks to: **SDF, Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!  
_

_**Author's Note:** Alright, shall put in Michael about his crush before the book is over although you may have already guessed as I did try to drop hints. And this book is nearly over, next chapter is the start of the Easter holidays and after Easter it should only be one chapter until the finale events begin! I may even finish this before my birthday. Also people who like Calderon will be glad to know he's in it more than he has been most of this book (except at Easter), although you may not like him after his chapter and most of it is flashback from his point of view so apologies in advance if you dislike flashback heavy chapters but it is majorly important  
_

**_Questions:_**

_**All of them with it are friends are they like drawn to each other?  
**Yes! That's exactly right, I didn't know if anyone would pick up on it but they are drawn to each other subconsciously because they're connected now and bound to Sal. They'd also be drawn to her and even to Calderon, he's not bound the same way and its a lot weaker but he is linked to his twin and by extension Scorpius and the others_

* * *

It was an interesting turn of events, Maurice was put in detentions until the Easter break for severely injuring several students while Michael was awarded fifty points from Gryffindor for trying to help them. Maurice didn't mention _why_ he attacked them but Albus did the right thing and confessed about setting Maurice up to be hurt and James and his friends attacking him, Scorpius thought it might have saved Maurice from suspension as it was more justified then outright attacking for no reason and he had stopped the non-bullies from getting hurt. It also meant Albus, James and his friends were also put into detentions until the Easter holidays and James was additionally banned from Quidditch for the rest of the school year - much to Scorpius and Latimer's delight.

Michael seemed to forgive Albus after he did the right thing and told about what he did but Maurice didn't, then again Albus didn't like him either and hadn't actually apologized to Maurice either so the feeling was mutual. Rose on the other was getting on better with him, she had to considering she could no longer go hang out with Copper and the Ravenclaws, she did alternate between being upset about breaking up and being glad he was gone a lot. In general Scorpius' friends were actually getting along better, Maurice, Corin, Vern and Orous were all friends anyway and all nine of them sometimes took up the big table in the library to do homework.

Scorpius' biggest concern though was the fire he'd seen around Maurice's wrist, he was sure that meant Maurice also had the same scar as him, Orous and Lysander - probably Lorcan too - and was the other boy Linden had spoken about. However there was problems with this, Maurice's fingerless leather gloves extended far enough to hide the scar - if there was one - so Scorpius had no way of checking. According to Linden the other boy was the first marked and suffered in other ways, Maurice didn't seem to be suffering though or to have suffered, he had nothing but praise for Beauxbatons and the nameless wizarding school before it that had taught him so much that he'd been in since he was two.

According to Linden it would also mean Orous and Maurice were twins which actually seemed laughable considering how different they were, in looks as well as personality. It also seemed strange considering things like Orous had been born as an albino while Maurice had been born deaf, Maurice claimed his mother abandoned him when he was a baby for being deaf while Orous claimed his father abandoned him when he was a baby for being albino, Orous was left-handed while Maurice was right-handed, was any of that normal for twins? Although he did find out they shared the same birthday, Orous said he'd been born in the early hour of the morning while Maurice said he'd been born in the late evening making Orous actually the older of the two, twins or not. Scorpius was going to ask Varanian if he could find out at Easter or whether Scorpius had just been seeing things, he was also going to ask him about his thoughts on Roman Rivers being involved. Scorpius was also going to ask about the sleepwalking, that night wasn't the last time Michael found him doing it and brought him back to bed.**  
**

The week before Easter, Scorpius, Michael, Abby, Albus and Rose were also given the paper to fill out their elective choices for the third year. They sat down in the Common Room on the luckily sunny Saturdays they set aside to discuss it, actually getting the comfy seats by the fire as most people were outside enjoying the weather. Scorpius already had a good idea of what he wanted to pick but they were deciding and discussing it together to try get into classes together if possible.

"Okay," Michael spoke first, "let's go in order we took the taster so first was Care of Magical Creatures, what did we think of that?"

"I loved it!" Scorpius burst out immediately, "Thestrals are the coolest creatures in the magical world and I got to ride one! It was amazing and interesting to learn about them."

"I also liked it and I like Hagrid," Abby agreed smiling, "it was kinda fun feeding them and in general I think the subject is interesting, it'd be cool to learn about how to care for different magical creatures."

"Dad says Hagrids lessons are kind of erm... dangerous," Rose pointed out unsurely.

"I think we should all take it," Albus offered, "then at least we all have one elective we take together and we all know Hagrid - except Michael - and we should take his class on principle. Hagrid's awesome."

"Good plan," Abby commented while they nodded in acceptance - even Rose - and checked it down on their lists, "so next was... Arithmancy."

"No."

"No," Scorpius said almost the same second as Albus.

"Definitely no," Rose agreed firmly, "Rivers is just... no. We had to endure him the Christmas before last and there's no way I'm agreeing to at least three years trapped in a classroom with him. He's a nightmare, honestly."

"Plus we all fell asleep, if we can't even stay awake for an hour long taster then how are we supposed to last at least three years worth of classes?"

"Good point!" Albus grinned but Abby and Michael didn't look convinced.

"Well... I thought it was kinda interesting," Abby spoke up quietly, "I don't know what Rivers is like but the subject was kinda good if you didn't fall asleep. And for the record not all of us fell asleep, Michael and I didn't."

"You're not seriously considering taking the subject, are you?"

"Well I was... I want to. I don't want to take it alone though, I was hoping some of you would like it."

"I'll take it with you, Abby," Michael offered kindly and shrugged when they looked at him like he was mad, Abby looked relieved though as the two marked it down, "I'm here to learn magic so why not learn magic? So next was the Study of Ancient Runes."

"I've had enough runes to last me the rest of my life," Albus announced shaking his head, "I'm not interested in learning about them."

"You don't even have all your memories back."

"Well what I do remember is enough."

"I think it could be useful and its kinda interesting," Scorpius disagreed and glanced at the rune scarred into his palm, "it'd be nice to know what they actually mean."

"I think so too," Rose nodded in agreement.

"Well I'm with Al on this I'm afraid," Abby said with a sigh, "the teacher was nice but I'm not interested."

"What about you, Michael?"

"Sure, why the hell not?" Michael wondered with another shrug as he, Scorpius and Rose checked it down, "so Muggle Studies. Well that's a very boring and pointless no."

"I loved it. Its a fascinating subject how muggles live, we really don't know enough about them. After staying with my grandparents, it seemed like an alien world and it really shouldn't be."

"Yeah, I thought it was interesting," Abby agreed.

"About as interesting as a class can be anyway," Albus added with a smirk while Michael scowled, "I want to take it."

"I know more than enough about muggles, I'm out," Scorpius told them to which Michael looked grateful while the other three marked it down, "so the last one is Divination."

"Absolutely not," Rose decided looking almost affronted just from the word, "a useless waste of time, completely inaccurate or plain crazy. An atrocious subject says both of my parents."

"I didn't think it was that bad but I think three subjects is enough for me," Abby pointed out, "I'd rather stick with the three I have."

"I liked it," Michael offered quietly, "she was really nice and its interesting."

"Are you mad?" Albus scoffed, "you're already taking _three_ subjects and you want to take fourth?"

"Yes I do, we're here to learn so the more subjects the better. You only have two."

"And I'm sticking with two, Divination is for loonies and that woman is damn creepy without her eyes or lack of."

"That is completely mean and uncalled for!" Michael protested defensively.

"Alright fine, I apologize and retract the comment about her creepy eyes but I'm still sticking with two."

"I wanted to take it," Scorpius said before Michael could reply, "I thought it was interesting too."

"You two are cuckoo."

"Thank you, Al," Scorpius quipped sarcastically as he and Michael marked down the last subject, "so I'm taking Care of Magical Creatures, Study of Ancient Runes and Divination, Rose is taking the same only Muggle Studies instead of Divination, Abby is taking the same as that only Arithmancy instead of Ancient Runes, Albus is having the same minus Arithmancy leaving him with only two subjects and Michael is taking on everything but Muggle Studies."

"Yep, sounds about right," Abby nodded and smiled, "it'll be fun."

* * *

_Tommy looked around at the fallen in panic and gripped his hair, hopping in frustratedly in circles. Stupid, stupid, stupid magic, he hadn't meant to knock everyone out, he'd just wanted them to shut up so he could be angry at Sal and even then he hadn't expected them to do it at all. He stopped moving, his eyes darting over the bodies frantically but there was no sign of them waking although they were breathing. What was he supposed to do? He had no guards, no masters, no walls or doors or bars locking him in, what was anyone supposed to do in that situation? And he could still hear Varanian screaming, screaming and screaming and screaming... He wished at least that Brutus or Rabastan were awake, maybe he could've convinced one of them to save Varanian and stop him suffering because they were nicer. __And then it hit him. He could help Varanian, couldn't he? Slowly he lowered his hands from his head, everyone was else was sleeping, they couldn't stop him. _

_He ran back towards the house being engulfed in flames, the door was open but a wall of red blazed in its place. Fire wasn't solid though. Tommy leaped through the flames and yelped in pain as he felt the heat glide over him for a moment before it stopped abruptly but he could still see the fire, confused he glanced at his hands and saw there was a strange sheen of light around his limbs,around his legs too, it moved when he did. That was probably what was stopping him from getting burned, so magic could be useful after all although if he tried to do that then he couldn't. _

_Trying to put it out of his mind, Tommy walked through the fire unscathed into the room where Varanian was still where they'd left him. It was hard to see through the flames made even worse by the could of thick black smoke that should probably be choking him, apparently his magic bubble protected him from that too, it would be really useful to know what his magic was actually doing before it did it. There was the most horrible smell though, a sicking smell that seemed to claw its way into his nose and even his mouth, he could practically taste the clogging stench that made him want to throw up if he'd had any food in his stomach then maybe he would have. Apparently the bubble didn't protect against the smell._

_He ran over to Varanian and started untying the rope around his ankles, magically made to be immune from the flames before reaching up to untie his wrists. It would be easier if he was taller, Tommy thought it would be cool to be taller but he doubted that would happen. Varanian collapsed as soon as the rope was loose enough and would have hit the ground if Tommy hadn't been there to awkwardly try to hold him up, the flames evaporated the second Varanian touched him and the bubble coated over him as well. Tommy almost smiled to himself but Varanian didn't try to walk away and escape, he must still have been hurt although it was hard to see him through the black haze swallowing them even though Tommy was holding him upright. Tommy tried to sling Varanian's arm around his shoulder to support him which made Varanian cry out in pain, Tommy felt tears well guiltily at having aggravated his pain, he couldn't even help someone right. He was a completely useless and utterly horrible bad person, what had he been thinking trying to save Varanian without a master? _

_Still, he could hardly go back and try to wake Brutus or Rabastan then, he wasn't even sure they'd help. He felt even worse when he tried to move, Varanian seemed more in pain with every step but Tommy didn't know how to ease his pain especially not while they were still inside a burning building. It was slow progress even though Tommy tried to urge Varanian to move faster, the ceiling seemed to be groaning in a way he didn't like and he was afraid his magic would stop working at any moment.  
_

_He breathed a sigh of relief as they made it outside, slowing the pace as he got Varanian further away from the inferno blazing and awkwardly lay him on the grass. Varanian moaned in pain as he did this, for the first time Tommy truly realized why, from the neck down Varanian was burned, badly. Nothing beneath his head had been spared. He barely even looked human, his clothes had either melted or melded into his charred, blackened flesh, pieces actually seemed to be peeling off to reveal bits of yellow. Tommy felt sick and tears slid from his eyes, why people were so intent on destroying each other was beyond him, people just seemed the same to him. Or maybe he was just as stupid as Master Rodolphus said. Tommy thought he'd rather be stupid than understand that._

_Varanian's breathing was jerky and the agony he was feeling engraved in his face, his eyes were screwed shut, at least he was still alive though. Tommy held his hands over him and willed him to heal, trying to channel his energy into making it work but he failed and moved his hands away guiltily. His magic could shield him from fire when he wasn't trying but wouldn't heal someone when he was trying, how did anyone ever learn to control it?! A bolt of lightning came from nowhere abruptly and stamped the ground beside him, he groaned frustratedly, his magic would do that but not heal someone in need of healing attention?! He closed his eyes and balled his fists against his head in frustration, he was so terrible at helping people it was unbelievable. You're such a worthless horrible person, he told himself angrily and felt more tears pushed out from beneath his eyelids, can't help a single person.  
_

_"H-Hospital," Varanian croaked weakly and Tommy flicked his eyes back open, Varanian was looking at him with icy blue eyes, "h-hospital..."_

_"Can you apparate there?" Tommy asked biting his lip, he couldn't apparate after all and even if he knew how an attempt would probably kill them both but if Varanian lowered the anti-apparation wards and apparating to safety it'd be okay._

_"C-Can't," Varanian whimpered as his eyes closed again, "I... c-can't... t-too... m-much... I... c-can't... h-hurts..."_

_"It'll be okay," Tommy offered trying to be comforting while he thought of something. Shadows. The Shadows could get them to St Mungo's, they'd transported them before, "no, I don't want to."_

_Tommy shivered and wrapped his arms around himself, he didn't like that feeling and he didn't like them. But... he couldn't think of anything else and Varanian needed help fast or maybe he would die, he couldn't let the first and probably only person he'd ever get to help die because of a few Shadows._

_Determinedly he took a deep breath and found his shadow, Shadows hid in the shadow of their master unless told otherwise and called to them. It would make no sense if he tried to describe it, he'd come off sounding mad although everyone told him he was mad anyway, if he mentally asked for them they obeyed his call otherwise they just hid in his shadow and fed quietly upon his pain unless told different. They could call to him to, wishing to egg him on into inflicting pain and helping them get souls to tear apart because it was the best pain, he hated that so much.  
_

_They left his shadow to enter his body, chilling him through to his soul to communicate or at least one did, they were all connected to each other when they shared a master and the one could pass on instructions. One was actually what he thought of almost as a name for the first one he'd bound to himself, much like Dementors they could learn things like speech if they thought it would help them with their goals and One had. It was a lot easier to communicate with them when they understood the language of his thoughts._

_I want you to do the teleporting thing you did before, take me and him to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies, the one Brutus took me too before, Tommy thought and One understood, he saw more of the Shadows fleeing his shadow and speeding away too fast for him to keep track. Tommy hadn't asked or wanted to ask how the process completely worked but he knew Shadows could only transport you to a place with more Shadows bound to you were already there waiting._

Ready when you are_, One spoke back after a moment, the words made his head feel cold but he ignored it as he placed a hand on Varanian's forehead - it seemed better than aggravating the burns - and willed One to go for it. He felt the sensation again like he was gliding before being blinded by the lights of St Mungo's._

_"Help! I need help over here!" Tommy called out immediately and people actually rushed to obey.  
_

_Tommy got up and stepped back as healers swarmed on Varanian, they were calling things that sounded related to healing and a few seconds later they were levitating Varanian onto a stretched and taking him away. Tommy backed away into the wall, they'd taken him to the 'Cauldron Explosions' section because it was his focal point if he told them to go there like he had to find Brutus' brother to make sure he was alright. He laughed at the memory, it seemed strange now that he was literate how he could've made such an error. Although he still thought Calderon sounded cooler. _

_"So what happened to your friend?" a healer asked him abruptly looking at him like he was insane, people looked at him like that a lot especially when he laughed for some reason, was he laughing wrong or something? He stopped laughing as she spoke though, feeling fearful. He'd never spoken to someone who wasn't a master or family before, unless you counted Varanian from a few moments ago. What if he said something wrong? _

_"Death Eaters," Tommy answered realizing she was expecting him to answer at some point in the near future, "they attacked him for being a blood traitor, he was tortured and then they burned him alive. I don't know the specifics but please try your best to save him anyway."  
_

_"We will," the healer promised, "are you hurt? Your arm..."_

_"Its okay," Tommy said quickly noticing her looking at the scar from his mother carving the Dark Mark into his skin, it was too late to heal it he was sure, Varanian's injuries were much more in need of healing. However the healer's eyes bulged at the mark and she drew her wand as she shrieked._

_"DEATH EATER!" _

_The bustling ward around him disintegrated into chaos, some people were screaming he was evil, some people were just screaming, some people were crying, some people were fleeing or helping others flee and some... others were drawing their wands at him. A dozen jets of multicolored lights were suddenly upon him, Tommy yelped in surprise and was even more surprise when a shield of golden light pulsed around him and deflected the lights in random directions across the room, some actually caused explosions and chunks of wall, bed or ceiling to be torn apart. His heart was beating rapidly as they went to fire again._

_"NO!" Tommy screamed clutching at his head in desperation but it was too late and another pulse of light shot out, this time his magic knocked people out for the second time that night, this time all those with wands aimed at him. _

_He bolted down the nearest corridor and called for One to get him way, take him back and he felt himself gliding again before he was back in the night outside the burning house. He fell to his knees in the grass the second he returned, already in tears as uncontrollable sobs wracked his body, he hugged his arms around himself and tried to rock himself comfortingly._

_Brutus was right, everyone not a Death Eater hated him just as much as the Death Eaters did. Even when he was trying to do something nice and help someone they saw the evil inside him and outside him. He didn't want to be evil! He didn't! He didn't want to hurt or kill or watch people suffering, he had suffered and he knew how horrible it was, no one ever helped him but he would help them because people should help each other, they should care, they should be kind and nice. Wasn't that better than killing and inflicting pain? They were all just people, their souls were the same to the Shadows, they all bled the same color blood despite it being so important._

_He didn't want to be evil. He wanted to be good, to help people, he thought one good deed did much more to make the world a better place than the eradicating scores of innocents in the name of blood purity. He just wanted to be loved, he wanted his parents to love him more than anything but he wasn't going to hurt or kill to make them happy, a victory wasn't worth it if someone got hurt. He could feel the magic pouring out of him as he cried, pulses of gold lashing out at the ground around but he couldn't stop it. He hated his power, having something dangerous deep inside himself that he couldn't control terrified him, he actually wished he was a squib like Marius Black had been sometimes, then he wouldn't have that problem and he wouldn't even be able to see Dementors or Shadows as a bonus. He hated them so much. He just wanted to be normal, safe and happy, couldn't people see that? Didn't it matter at all?_

_But no, it didn't. He was Voldemort's son, destined to be evil - doomed more like - and being unable to control his magic - and it was getting worse - made him even more terrified that one day he'd snap and turn into everything he hated. He didn't want to be evil though, he didn't! He knew none of the things he wanted would ever come to pass, he'd never be safe, normal, happy, good or loved. People hated him on instinct anyway as he'd just seen, he'd never be able to fit in their world but maybe, just maybe, he could stop himself being evil. After all, he'd stopped Varanian from dying hadn't he? He actually had some choices, he'd - and Sal -refused to eat meat since learning its origins a year ago exactly and he would continue to do so, they hadn't been able to force him no matter what Rodolphus did. He had some choices, you could fight for his choices. And he would._

_Determinedly he got to his feet and headed towards the burning building once more, his tears drying up as he stalked defiantly into the flames, once more magic protected him. But he didn't want magic to protect him, he put his scarred arm into the fire again and again and willed as hard as he could, he was going to get rid of that blasted mark and he wasn't going to let his own magic stop him! It worked. Tommy screamed as that part of his arm was denied protection, the flames lapping the exposed skin up as much as the Shadows would be enjoying his pain. His scream became a laugh at the agony of the fire burning through his flesh, the sickening scent filled his nose again and he realized it must be the smell of skin burning. He didn't care at that moment though, it was working! It was actually working!  
_

_"Take it!" Tommy screamed to the roaring flames and empty night, "here and now, I vow that I am never going to let myself be like the masters, the Death Eaters or even my parents! As long as I draw breath I'm going to fight! I'm going to fight it no matter what happens! I won't be who you want me to be and I don't care what you do to me! Do you hear me!?"_

_Almost as if it had heard him, the ceiling started to collapse on him. Tommy threw up his hands in a useless way of defending himself but magic shot out and kept the roof up, he took the opportunity to run back outside while it was holding. He felt it go the second he got outside but the roof remained intact albeit in flames, it must have just been the floor above falling. Tommy spared the still unconscious people a glance before moving away from both them and the fire to lie down on the grass, his legs were shaking and his arm was in agony. _

_Tommy felt actually calm though despite the pain, his arm wasn't burned as badly as Varanian but hopefully enough to burn off the Dark Mark. A part of him thought if he was smart then he should leave while he had the chance but it wasn't like he had anywhere to go, he'd never be accepted anywhere for his heritage and really he had no idea how to survive in their world anyway. He wasn't a master, after all, he was a nothing. He was going to be punished though, Rodolphus would destroy him for what he'd done, worse if he ever found out that Varanian lived but he was oddly resigned to his fate. He wasn't going to let himself do wrong, all choosing had consequences and his was that he'd suffer the pain he refused to inflict, it was a fair enough deal.  
_

_He looked up at the sky and noticed the stars were there, he'd never actually gotten such a good view of them before but they were incredibly beautiful, twinkling down on him in the night, not judging or hating him. He wished he could reach out and touch them but it was impossible, it was just like life, the best things always were unreachable but you could admire from a distance all you wanted. He smiled to the stars, his eyelids daring to close but the image of the stars remained in his mind as he dreamed of flying through the stars on the back of a dragon or was the dragon, he wasn't entirely sure when he drifted back into reality. The stars were gone then, replaced by the dawn colors. Usually it was a vast wealth of beautiful bright hues but that day it was just a bloody sky, as red as the flames still ravaging the ruins of the cottage._

_And then he felt it, the feeling of all life and hope being drained from him as the Dementor guards swopped down on him. He screamed and tried to curl up in a ball but his arm seared with pain too much to be truly successful, tears streamed from his eyes as he willed them to leave, the memories of his life already etched into his mind burning once more as he was forced to remember. He wished it would stop._

_That was a bad thing to wish for though, he felt the power bursting from him towards the Dementor. He screamed 'no' with every speck of air left in his lungs as he sat bolt upright but it was already too late, the two Dementors furthest fled once more while the closest one was trapped. Its body convulsed and contorted violently but silently, its Shadow stretching out and no longer following its movements. Tommy screamed no one last time as the Dementor stopped, hanging there limply with its Shadow no longer attached. It drifted aimlessly away, they needed a few hours to recover from the shock from what he gathered. _

_The newly liberated Shadow shot towards Tommy and he felt it binding to him, it felt like his body was actually burning just from cold not heat. Then he was forced to the ground with a thud as he felt it bound or rather he felt bound, as if invisible chains of ice were snapping tightly on him and forcing him down, the weight was too much for a moment before he recovered and sat back up, the feeling receding.  
_

_"So that's how you do it," Sal commented and Tommy looked back round to see his twin watching him, the others were still unmoving but she was sitting up near where she'd been unconscious only now without her mask and a look of curiosity on her face, "I think I can unbind Shadows - or Specters - and bind them to myself, I can become the Shadow Master."_

_"What is wrong with you!?" Tommy demanded feeling his fury resurface from before as he got his feet, Sal following suite and facing him across the grass, "you want to be a master, you want to take over the world or something, you killed that woman and you started that fire to burn Varanian alive!"_

_"So what?!" Sal shot back looking as livid as he felt, "being a master is better than being nothing! Than being tortured, then being worthless, then being treated like dirt! We're the children of Voldemort, the heirs of Salazar Slytherin and dammit we deserve better! Respect is earned not given, I don't want to be nothing and I can do a much better job with the world, its a horrific place! And damn straight I killed those people, if I can't be happy or loved then why should they?! Why should anyone?! Its not fair, Tommy!"_

_"Because its good that good exists outside of our lives somewhere in the world! Nice things should be preserved not destroyed just because you can't have it!"_

_"Its selfish of them to hog it in the first place! With our blood we should be able to do whatever we want anyone but we don't because our parents don't spare us five seconds to see we're not valueless, our power is greater than anyone with a wand could imagine and we should use it, we know things no one else knows and we should use it for the good of the world!"_

_"And people think I'm mad!?"_

_"You are mad!"_

_"Damn straight I am! And you know what, Sal?! FINE! If you want to be the Shadow Master then go the hell ahead!" Tommy yelled angrily and threw out his arm towards her._

_He didn't even know if it was possible, he didn't truly think it would work but it did. Magic erupted around him and the Shadows stretched over towards his twin. Sal cried out as the Shadows were bound to her, she fell to her knees from the weight of it and be could practically see the invisible chains forcing her down. And Tommy screamed, his body jerking against his will and he didn't even know how he remained upright or actually care as the Shadows were severed from him, he ripped the bonds aside to leave them on Sal. _

_And then it was over, he lowered his arm and stood there shaking. He couldn't believe what he'd done. He felt freer than he had in a long time but at the same time guilt replaced his anger, he'd either cursed his sister or cursed the world depending on what happened. It hurt, severing the connection to the Shadows left him feeling like he'd had a limb torn off that was no longer there but the gaping wound remained sore where the connection had been. Sal was on the ground on her side facing him, breathing heavily and shaking. His legs could no longer hold him anymore and he collapsed onto his side the ground, he tried to stay conscious but it was too hard, he felt so drained and hurt. Sal met his eyes before they both passed out, identically dark eyes catching for the last time. _


	55. II: Offers

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther-1, Lucifersdaughter and SDF for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

_**Why we gonna hate Calderon?**  
For making Sal the Shadow Master but if it doesn't bother you then yay  
_

* * *

Scorpius was both dreading and looking forward to the Easter break, on one hand he was desperate to talk to Varanian and find out if he'd learned anything more to go after Lorcan or the Shadow Master but on the other hand, there were his parents. He was still mad at him from Christmas, dragging him to healers to be examined against his will was just cruel and irrational. He'd just have to endure, plus with the ring being a portkey it was easier to get away, lock the door and leave then they'd be none the wiser, just check back every so often and show up for food to not arouse suspicion and he'd be good. Feeling more confident he got up and started packing the things he was taking back with him, patiently waited while Michael systemically made sure the others succeeded before heading down for breakfast.

"Good morning," Albus announced cheerfully as the girls arrived shortly after they did.

"What's so good about it?" Corin grumbled irritably.

"Vipera is looking gorgeous today, she's so beautiful and her very presence lights up the world like the sun."

"Doesn't the sun also burn?"

"What is up with you today?"

"Vern is staying for Easter so I decided to stay so he won't have to be alone, Father got the mistaken impression it was to spend time with him and he's being rather annoying about it."

"Yeah, sure," Albus mumbled disinterestedly, Scorpius thought he'd probably been speaking rhetorically and neither wanted to know or cared what had Corin down, "whose taking in Vern again? Is it his grandmother or people on his mother's side? Or is he going to an orphanage or something?"

"He didn't say," Michael answered for him with a shrug, "just said that he was going to put off leaving Hogwarts for as long as possible because he didn't want to go there."

"Probably an orphanage."

"So what do you want to do later, Michael?" Corin asked curiously, "if we already make plans then I'll have an excuse and you're the expert."

"I'm going home for Easter," Michael announced and everyone looked at him in shock, even Maurice's oceanic eyes widened in a moment of surprise breaking his usually neutral expression, "what? Is that really so weird? I have a family too, you know."

"Well... yeah," Rose nodded, "you always stay and you never said anything until now."

"No one asked."

"Because we assumed you would stay as usual."

"Well... I'm not, my mum wrote to me at Christmas to say to come home for Easter so... yeah."

"This is great," Albus spoke up grinning broadly, "I was going to wait until the year ended because you never go back and you'll need your parents to agree to it and I wanted to say it to both of you at the same time, I got permission weeks ago."

"Permission for what?"

"To invite you both to come to the Quidditch World Cup over the summer!"

"Wow, really?" Scorpius wondered in surprise as Albus nodded enthusiastically, he wasn't too bothered about the world cup but it would get him away from his parents and he did like spending time with his friends.

"Yep!" Albus affirmed and added in a sing-song voice, "and Molly'll be there."

"I'm in," Scorpius agreed trying not to blush at Albus mentioning her in public like that, he was glad she was sitting away with Dom, "but not just because of Molly. Have to check with my parents though."

"Which is why I'm asking you now so we can ask them on the platform, I'm not completely stupid. So what do you say Michael?"

"I don't know if I'll be allowed, my stepdad..." Michael said quietly and trailed off as he seemed to think better of what he was going to say, "I don't know if I'll be allowed but thanks anyway."

"Well it couldn't hurt to ask right?" Albus pointed out and Michael actually laughed for some reason before abruptly stopping when he realized no one else was.

"Err... sure, we can ask."

"Excellent."

* * *

_Brutus wasn't entirely sure about what happened between the twins but he awakened the sound of Tommy screaming, they were both unconscious before he was on his feet. He had no idea why, he was the first Death Eater awake then again Tommy was insane so maybe he just felt like screaming for no reason? He had managed to severely burn his arm though, obliterating the Dark Mark scar, Brutus couldn't heal it particularly good so just bandaged it to stop dirt getting or... whatever the reason for them was._

_Rodolphus and Lucius were both angry at Tommy though, Rodolphus tried to wake the boy up but to no avail although he left Sal alone at least as she remained asleep too. After they got them back, the twins were seperated with Sal going back to the basement and Tommy given a small windowless secure room upstairs. Neither of them did all morning or afternoon, as soon as Tommy did they were moving him, apparently it had been decided that isolation and more security was best for him. Sal was staying, she wasn't perfect but she had killed Ethel and Pip Varanian, Rabastan was to be in charge of her training while Rodolphus would go to the secluded location with Tommy. It made Brutus sad, Tommy wouldn't survive long with Rodolphus, one of them would wind up killing the other and he doubted Tommy would be the killer. He didn't deserve to die. Sal woke up in the evening but it took Tommy three days, when he got back from a night's rest he was told that Tommy had woken and been taken away. Brutus hadn't even gotten to say goodbye, nor had Sal even._

_Rabastan kicked Brutus off guard duty for no apparent reason so he didn't get to see her and he wasn't even told where Tommy had been taken let alone be assigned to him, Brutus wasn't actually sure what he'd done wrong especially since his relationship with Rabastan was much better than Rodolphus. He hadn't gotten to say goodbye to Sal either or even to speak to Rabastan for an explanation, he much preferred guard duty to his other tasks. Achan was extremely enthusiastic for the war though, Brutus wished it was over everyday though and he could go home and talk to his family again, convince them the world was a better place with Lord Voldemort running it or at least that as pure-bloods they'd be safe._

_Until the beginning of May came and all the Death Eaters were called for an attack on Hogwarts - along with their allies, or Brutus thought all were supposed to be called anyway, he tried to find Rabastan to finally get an answer but neither of the Lestrange brothers were present, he supposed they were still guarding the twins. He recognized other guards though, Selwyn he noticed and Loren - who had been allowed stay on guard duty - who was ranting how relieved he was his daughter didn't start Hogwarts - if it was still standing - until September. It felt like a dream, it was surreal to be attacking the school he'd spent seven years of his life, it didn't feel real or possible and actually he wished it wasn't real or possible, he'd rather be anywhere in the world but there._

_They had to wait a to give those in Hogwarts a chance to meet the ultimatum, Brutus thought it was pointless because he couldn't see them giving up the boy who lived, they'd have to win by force. Midnight came and went and predictably Brutus had been right, they refused and the attack was launched. They had Dementors, Giants and... some scary looking big spiders that they'd driven out of the forest. Brutus actually didn't care about the battle, he had a horrible feeling Atticus would be there, he couldn't imagine him being anywhere else while everything was going on. He had to keep him safe, had to convince him to switch sides before he died._

_Brutus was a good duelist and he never realized it as much as he did when he joined the battle, it was actually too easy, the spells and movements coming as naturally and effortlessly as breathing, he frequently had to keep stepping in to help Achan out. He didn't kill though, he didn't want to kill teachers who'd taught him and some of the fighters were just kids, they had no place being a battle and it was shameful that Potter had forced them to fight for him, it was shameful that the teachers who were supposed to protect them were making them risk their lives and it was shameful that Potter had gone there to put their lives at risk in the first place._

_Brutus just lost track of time, it was spell after another and generic faces that weren't his brother, he thought they may have breached the castle at one point but he wasn't sure, he just followed Achan and kept him from getting killed. They ended up on the wall the far side of Hogwarts at some point, the cool air was nice, he went to point his wand at the next enemy and they did the same, it was at that moment he realized it was Atticus and Atticus realized it was him. Neither fired and almost as if in planned unison they lowered their wands, Achan's electric eyes were just darting between them in confusion._

_"Atty-" Brutus started but Atticus spoke first._

_"You have to stop this, Brutus," Atticus insisted, "you're on the wrong side and its only going to end badly, just switch sides and defend the castle."_

_"You're the one on the wrong side and Potter's going to lose, please brother, don't be stubborn and die senselessly just because your mother was a bad person. You'd be rewarded for joining and you're a pure-blood, you could be great and safe and its not so bad."_

_"You-Know-Voldemort is evil, I wouldn't want to live anyway in his twisted views of the world. For once listen to reason not to Achan, you'd be given a pardon and everything for changing sides and helping, you're talented and you could make a difference."_

_"This is pointless!" Achan snapped suddenly and launched a spell before either Ashain could react to stop it, the best Atticus could muster was trying to jump out of the way but it still caught him and caused a cut on his lower chest._

_Brutus opened his mouth to chastise Achan for attacking his brother but Atticus was already firing another spell back, Achan tried to dodge but with less success than Atticus and it caught him squarely in the center of his chest. It was just a stunning spell but it still threw him back, his body seemed to curl in the air as he was flung and the back of his head was the first part of him to collide with the ground. There was a sickening and impossible loud crack, his head snapped back forwards and back down on the stone violently. He was dead. His electric eyes were staring sightlessly up at the sky, unblinking, his body unmoving. Brutus just gaped in shock for a moment, had his brother just killed his best friend?_

_He lashed out with a spell in anger before he could stop himself, all the time he spent worrying and trying to protect his brother and then what did Atticus do?! Turn around and kill his one and only friend! It wasn't a fatal spell or even a dangerous one, it was just his frustration being vented but Atticus deflected it regardless, so effortlessly and quickly that it just fueled Brutus' anger, he wasn't even allowed to vent his frustration?! He lashed out again, and again, and again but Atticus deflected it every single time!_

_Again. And Again. And Again. And... what was Brutus doing? Killer or not he was supposed to be protecting his little brother not attacking him, he'd deal with Achan's death later. He fired his final spell, ready to ceasefire but was unfortunate enough that the angle it hit Atticus' shield that it deflected straight back at him. He didn't think he even had time to look surprised, let alone try to defend himself as it struck him perfectly and threw him through the air, propelling him backwards over the wall to hurtle downwards to a fall he couldn't survive. He was blissfully unconscious the second the spell struck him though, the last thing he saw was the look of absolute horror on his brother's face._

* * *

The journey passed by quickly, Scorpius got a compartment with Abby, Albus, Rose, Michael, Molly and still managed to squeeze Maurice and Orous in. It was a relaxing, pleasant trip as they talked and played games of Exploding Snap although Maurice refused thinking it was silly. He didn't even time to worry about things, although he could of sworn Michael seemed more nervous as they got closer before the train finally came to a halt.

"Ask Scorpius' parents first," Michael said to Albus as they started heading out, "I'll see if anyone's here for me, my stepdad has a habit of being late although if its my mum then we're okay."

"Will do," Albus agreed as Michael slipped away to search for his family, Molly also spotted her dad and waved them goodbye and good luck.

Scorpius scanned around for his parents and noticed Maurice's father staring at Orous again, his expression was as unreadable as his son's but it was actually kind of disturbing and this time Orous noticed, shifting fearfully. Scorpius put his arm around him protectively and drew him into a walk away from Roman whose eyes followed them even after Maurice bid them goodbye and went over to his father.

"Maurice's father is one creepy bastard for a supposedly innocent guy," Albus commented quietly before Orous spotted his dad, thanking them before rushing over to the man who pulled him into a hug.

"Scorpius!" his mother called to him eagerly and he went over to them with his friends, his parents were wearing those stupidly fake smiles before he introduced Abby, Albus and Rose to her, "pleasure to meet you all."

"What can we do for you?" his father asked, catching on there was probably more to it than simply meeting his son's friends again.

"Al invited me to go to the Quidditch World Cup with his family over the summer, am I allowed?" Scorpius asked plainly, his parents looked surprised and exchanged a look.

"Of course you can," his mother agreed first and his father seemed to hesitantly nod to confirm the consent, Albus punched the air and whooped cheerfully which made his father scowl, "we'll make arrangements closer to the time I presume but alright, Scorpius."

"Thank you."

"Great, let's go see if Michael found his folks," Rose announced brightly and Scorpius went to follow them, he wanting to know Michael's answer and meet his elusive stepdad and mother.

"Back in a minute!" Scorpius called to his parents as he moved off with them.

It didn't take long to spot Michael, he'd just caught up with Abby, Albus and Rose when he heard Albus gasp. Michael was talking to a woman who Scorpius was forced to admit was very beautiful - although she still had nothing on Molly - which was odd considering he could see the resemblance to Michael, she had the same dazzling hazel eyes and the same unusual shade of hair only hers wasn't an unruly tangled mass but long and flowing, tied back. She had the same delicate soft features as him too only hers were a much more feminine, the same flawless skin except for where her hand was bandaged. She was dressed incredibly plainly though, her clothes looked ill-fitting and had the same worn-in look that Calderon's did but it didn't detract from her beauty, she was also wearing military dog tags and some kind of locket.

"Okay, Crystal," Michael nodded at her and she moved away for a moment so they approached.

"I'm in love," Albus told them breathing out dreamily.

"Yeah, yeah, Vipera, you're told us a million times," Rose complained while all but Michael rolled their eyes at him but Albus looked surprised and scowled at them.

"Screw Vipera, she's had like seven months and there's only so long I'm waiting for her."

"Weren't you just saying this morning how-" Abby began but Albus cut her off.

"That was forever go! I have a new love, Michael, you must tell me the name of your sister, my one true love."

"My... what?!" Michael wondered looking confused before it seemed to click just as the woman returned, he smiled an awkward kind of smile, "Crystal, these are my friends, Scorpius, Rose, Abby and Albus. Guys, this is my _mother,_ Crystal."

"Mother?!" Albus spluttered out in shock before any of them could say anything, "how are you old enough to be a mother?! What did you have him when you were like twelve?!"

"Sixteen," Crystal corrected him in a gentle tone.

"Well... you... look really, it doesn't show," Albus offered lamely trying not to blush in humiliation, Scorpius didn't know whether to feel bad for him for mistaking Michael's mother for his sister and proclaiming his love for her or just laugh.

"Should have seen me a decade ago then," Crystal commented with a sarcastic edge that was lost on him, Michael exchanged a knowing look with her though, "its nice to meet you all but we really must be getting back, its a long drive and my husband... worries."

"Its alright, we just wanted to ask you something," Rose said sweetly and nudged Albus who was sweating profusely and staring at the ground, "tell her, A."

"Um... I just erm... was erm... canMichaelcometotheQuidditchWorldCupwithmeandmyfam ily?" Albus blurted out suddenly high-pitched.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that," Crystal told him hesitantly while Albus fidgeted and went a few shades of red brighter than a Weasley's hair.

"The Quidditch World Cup," Michael stepped in, "Albus invited me and Scorpius to go to it over the summer."

"Quidditch is the thing with the broomsticks, right?"

"Yes it is," Albus said loudly finding his voice again, "there's two teams of seven players one Keeper one Seeker two Beaters and three Chasers and there's four types of three balls I mean three types of ball and there's four of them the Golden Snitch the Quaffle and two Bludgers and the Seeker's job is to catch the Golden Snitch which is work 150 points because it flies around and is hard to spot and catch and the Beaters have to hit the Bludgers at the enemy players with bats to stop them because they also fly around and they're really heavy and the there's three hoops that the Keeper defends because the Chasers have to score in the hoops by throwing the Quaffle through them and the Quaffle is the only ball that doesn't fly alone and there's teams of leagues like muggle sports and teams for countries and they play in the World Cup every four years and they're playing this year and the Quidditch World Cup started in 1473 and Hogwarts has a Quidditch team where the houses play each other and my dad was a Seeker for Gryffindor when he was at Hogwarts and my mum was a Chaser and reserve Seeker and she also played professionally for the Holyhead Harpies before I was born and Scorpius is Seeker for Gryffindor which is the house we're in and my brother is a Beater and two of my cousins are Beaters and my other cousins is the Keeper and the Captain of the team and she's the youngest Captain for a long time and Scorpius has a crush on her-"

"Hey!" Scorpius protested at Albus just blurting that out but he didn't pause or stop his rant.

"- and two of my cousins are Chasers and Michael is also a Chaser and he's really good and-"

"You're on the Quidditch team?" Crystal interrupted to look at her son in surprise, Michael blushed and Albus actually stopped this time to draw breath, he'd managed his whole speech without drawing breath.

"Just this year, I hadn't had a chance to tell you yet," Michael offered nervously but Crystal only smiled and hugged him, Albus made a strange sound as he looked up.

"That's great, Michael, you can go to the Quidditch Cup if you like."

"Its in August," Albus squeaked as she pulled away from Michael who looked worried.

"Are you sure Bob will like that?" Michael asked quietly and Crystal almost seemed to flinch at the name.

"He doesn't have to like it, it has nothing to do with him and he has four months to get used to it anyway," Crystal answered equally quietly, Scorpius got the impression he was missing something before she turned back to them and smiled but it didn't reach her eyes that time if you looked carefully, so much like when Michael did that, "that's a yes, Michael will be there."

"Great!" Albus said brightly, "you can come over to my mum to talk about arrangements now if you like."

"Sure, that's probably easier than owling," Crystal agreed looking slightly relieved as Albus happily led them over to Mrs Potter.

Scorpius quickly went to get his parents, clearly there'd been a change of plan in the arrangements and he didn't want his parents left out. He brought them over to the two mothers who introduced themselves, his father had met Mrs Potter before but his mother had only met Harry Potter and neither had met Crystal. They went to shake hands politely and he was surprised when Crystal flinched at the outstretched hand before covering for it by trying to shake hands really fast. That was odd. They moved a bit away to give the parents some time to talk through it, Albus sighed dreamily.

"Albus, you are _not_ in love with Crystal, she's my _mother,_" Michael growled but Albus gazed at her from a distance the same way he looked at Vipera, "are you listening to me?"

* * *

_"Wakey wakey, sleepy head," a voice cooed and Brutus jolted awake in surprise.  
_

_"Atticus, I have to..." Brutus began with the events of the battle at Hogwarts fresh in his mind but he wasn't in Hogwarts anymore, he was in the basement where Sal and Tommy - before he was moved - was kept. He looked around and realized Sal was the speaker, she was leaning against the wooden railings of the steps and smiled weakly while he sat up on the bed._

_"Atticus is alive as far as I can tell, his name wasn't amongst the listed dead at any rate and Specters can't get into Hogwarts for some reason."_

_"But the battle..."_

_"Is over. Your brother knocked you off the wall, you would have fallen to your death if we hadn't saved you and brought you here. I waited to wake you up until the battle was over and the war was over."_

_"The war is over?" _

_"I was right, Father was wrong and he lost," Sal told him sadly and he spotted the twinged of pain on her face, "Harry Potter killed him, managed to destroy all the horcruxes and killed him, Father should have made me or Tommy a horcrux after all and he'd still be alive. Mother died too. The people are celebrating Tommy and ours becoming orphaned, its sick, celebrating death."_

_"Thank you," Brutus offered as his mind tried to catch up with the information he was being force fed and struggled to digest it, "and I'm sorry about your parents."_

_"Its alright," Sal said quietly looking down sorrowfully for a minute before taking a deep breath, staying strong although her eyes looked a little red like she'd been crying before, "what to focus on is what we do now."_

_"I... don't know," Brutus admitted still trying to play catch-up, "see my family again?"_

_"You can't, Brutus, you were a Death Eater who fought against the victors. You can't just walk back into your life that didn't happen, you've been involved in crimes, that doesn't go away and get forgotten just because the war's over. Auror brother or not they'll lock you in Azkaban, even if you ignore the fact they think you're dead."  
_

_"Then what would rather I do?"_

_"Join me," Sal offered meeting his eyes and holding his gaze, "I'm serious about the campaign I'm planning and I'd... I'd really like for you to help."_

_"What does Rabastan think of this?"_

_"He's completely on board, what do you think we've doing since Christmas? I've been experimenting with the capabilities of the Specters on the supposed guards, I told him to kick you because I know you wouldn't want to be experimented on with them."_

_"The... what?"_

_"Tommy gave me control of them, severed his connection to them and bound them to me," Sal told him with an almost whole-hearted smile, "I'm the Shadow Master now. Rabastan and I have already erased the memories of me and Tommy from everyone who had contact or knew about us, except for you and Rodolphus of course. I'm in the shadows now, no one has any idea I exist and we have free reign to prepare."_

_"What happens to me if I don't join you?" Brutus asked slightly worriedly, Sal had made the transition from tortured prisoner to daughter of the Dark Lord pretty quickly._

_"Your memory will be erased like the others, just give a location and we'll drop you off there first. You don't really think I'd hurt you after you've been so good to me?"_

_Brutus just shrugged lamely, unsure of how to respond, what to even think. The war was over, the Dark Lord was dead and everyone thought Brutus was dead too. Sal was right too, if he went to his family he'd be thrown in Azkaban with the Dementors and their blasted Shadows. What choice did he have? Follow a fifteen year old, struggle on by himself or get thrown in Azkaban for the rest of his natural life. He sighed heavily.  
_

_"Alright, Sal, I'll join you."_


	56. II: The Unexpected

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

**_What's with Albus, does he have a cougar/MILF fetish?_**  
_He will actually start liking girls closer to/his own age at some point, I promise  
_

**_Will we get to see this Bob and maybe more Jack?_**  
_You will see more of Jack, in this book and sequels. You might meet Bob this book, depending on how I do the end and Easter but if not you will definitely see him next book_

**_Is this the last of the flashbacks if not will Sal be more possessive of Brutus?_**  
_There's one more flashback this chapter_

**_So is Orous staying at Hogwarts or going home?_**  
_Going home, that's why he appeared again on the platform. Completely my bad, the laptop kind of glitched and I had to write half that scene again and I didn't think of that the change in Corin's line being undone too. It has now been corrected  
_

**_How did Sal get Rodolphus on her side?_**  
_She didn't get Rodolphus on her side, she got Rabastan on her side. __Rodolphus was opposed to Voldemort's plan to use Bellatrix as their mother from the start and despised Sal and Tommy for existing, Sal didn't try get him on her side nor did she want him on her side. After the war ended, Rodolphus decided he would continue training Tommy to eventually use his destructive power to get revenge for Voldemort and told Rabastan to do the same with Sal (he didn't know of Rabastan's allegiance to her), they parted ways and he never saw them again. Tommy killed Rodolphus when he turned nineteen and has just been dead ever since_

* * *

Abby was the first to leave since her mother didn't need to talk about arrangements, since Rose was also being picked by Mrs Potter because her parents were too busy working she didn't leave though. Albus' sister and Rose's brother were also there, they engaged their siblings with excited reminders that the next Easter they'd also be coming back from Hogwarts, James thankfully hung back away from them, leaning against the war and alternating his glare between Scorpius, Michael, Crystal and the Malfoys.**  
**

"So... your mum seems nice," Scorpius commented to Michael to make conversation, Michael seemed unusually nervous and fidgety.

"If you do an Albus then I lose all faith in you," Michael told him.

"Don't worry I'm not, its still Molly. I just meant... you know, considering you never have any contact with your family and never go home for the holidays that she seems nicer than I would have thought."

"Crystal is a very good person and mother," Michael stated defensively, "and thanks, I think."

"Some reason you're so on edge?"

"No," Michael said quickly, "I mean maybe. Sort of. I have an appointment in St Mungo's to talk about prosthetic eye options on Saturday, I'm just nervous about that. And only that."

"You're getting a prosthetic eye? That's great!" Scorpius exclaimed happily although Michael frowned.

"I said looking at options not getting one and if all they have are those freaky eyes that see through things then I'm definitely not, it just couldn't to hear what they have to say."

"Well still great, don't be nervous, I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Thanks... I think."

Scorpius' mood brightened up at the thought of Michael getting a prosthetic eye, it was much healthier than having his useless ruined one. His good mood carried as the adults stopped talking and Scorpius could finally leave, he bade his friends goodbye as they went their separate ways for the week. His parents asked him about how classes were going, how Quidditch practice was going and new ones about his chosen electives. His mother praised him for taking three not two and insisted they were all good subjects, his father looked very worried though when he mentioned Care of Magical Creatures.

"It was easily my favorite taster and I like Professor Hagrid," Scorpius defended his choice before his father complained.

"Well just be very careful and remember, there's no shame if you choose to drop it," his father pointed out and Scorpius rolled his eyes, "you get yourself into enough danger without taking the most dangerous class."

"I don't get myself into danger."

"Attacked by an Auror, getting lost at Christmas, nearly drowning at Quidditch, Dementors at the start of term feast, Shadows at Diagon Alley and that's just this year!"

"Firstly, most of those things happened to everyone and secondly, am I allowed to go to Diagon Alley or is it still not safe?" Scorpius asked irritably, his parents really knew how to suck his good mood away.

"Why? Did you want something?" his mother wondered, "we can get it for you."

"Its my friend Molly's birthday and I want to get her a present, another charm for her bracelet, I'd rather see what they have myself."

"We're letting you go to the Quidditch World Cup, can't you let us have Diagon Alley? We'll see how things go and think about letting you come with us to get your things for Third Year over the summer."

Scorpius sighed as his good mood evaporated, why were his parents suddenly being so cruel to him? Banning him from going to a few stupid shows for one lousy present on top of dragging him to St Mungo's for no good reason. It made him want to scream but he didn't let himself, instead simply nodded in consent. He hoped the shop still had that lion charm because he was running out of ideas without seeing what they had again, at least next year he'd hopefully have Hogsmeade for gifts regardless of his parents on Diagon Alley. Assuming they didn't ban him from that too anyway.

Scorpius didn't sleep easily that night, he thought he did but his grandmother told him at breakfast that she'd found him sleepwalking and had to get him back to bed, it was really starting to bother him. His grandmother did seem to be doing better at least, he spent the morning talking with her as they played Wizard Chess to pass the time, he was giving Varanian a chance to contact him but if he didn't by the afternoon then Scorpius was simply going to test out the Portkey ring and go to him. His parents were going to Diagon Alley in the afternoon, as soon as they left he told Yip he was taking a nap and didn't want to be disturbing before retreating to his room.

Varanian hadn't contacted him so Scorpius was just going to go to him, feeling nervous that it wouldn't work. He pulled on his leather jacket and grabbed the ring hand in the other one, making sure his hand was over the ring because he had a feeling that was what really mattered.

"Go."

At his command it worked, he immediately felt as though someone had hooked him behind the navel and as dragging him backwards until he was standing in the general area where Varanian's... building was. The same overgrown grass and weeds and plenty of trees, Varanian tended to disapparate from the same spot but apparated to different locations so Scorpius was easier able to find his bearings. He'd just caught sight of the building when someone stepped out from behind a tree, Scorpius' wand was in his hands quickly but he lowered it upon seeing it was Varanian.

* * *

Albus had been looking forward to Easter, at the very least it was a week of not having to work on his classes and he could practice more on his broom - he was still determined to get on the team next year - and Michael had Scorpius were coming to the Quidditch World Cup with him. It had gone downhill pretty quickly though, his mum had been sweet and lulled them into a false sense of security until they'd dropped Rose and Hugo off at their grandparents and gone were back home. Then she unleashed her anger like an erupting volcano, furious at them for what they did to Maurice and she screamed at him - he tried to point out that all he did he was lure Maurice not actually hurt him but she didn't seem to care - and James - James tried to point that it had been a justified revenge but she didn't seem to care either and since he'd been defending Orous, James had been the first one in the wrong - for what felt like hours before grounding them for the entire week and banishing them to their rooms.

He'd just laid there in misery for awhile, he needed all the flying practice he could get if he was going to make the team, wasn't getting detentions at school punishment enough? Apparently not. He'd only left when Lily had told him to come downstairs for dinner, Lily had also been the only one to say a word all meal, chattering away excitedly while he, James and their mum ate in sullen stony silence, predictably his dad hadn't been there, he _never_ seemed to be there anymore. He'd just been thinking that when his dad did actually come back home as Albus was going back to his room, he ran to hug his dad but stopped when he saw the expression on his dad's face. And then his dad also yelled at them for what they did, how could they attack a first year - and shut up James, this is about what you did not what Maurice wrongly did as revenge - and he didn't work to keep bad people off the streets for them to turn around and do bad things themselves.

"But he's Roman Rivers' son! The guy who kidnapped Lorc and Lys!" James protested, still apparently defending his actions after punishment from teachers, Mum and then Dad, at least Albus had the decency to feel bad. Their dad looked just as surprised at this as Albus was.

"How many times do I have to tell you!? We don't judge people based of their family's rights or wrongs but but by their own character!" Harry Potter raged and James actually looked like he was about to say something insulting about Maurice before thinking better of it, Albus didn't like Maurice either but he could see how they might've crossed the line although Maurice clearly had to, he wondered if he was being punished too, "I don't attack people for the crimes of their parents and neither should you! Didn't I raise you better than that?! I'm shocked and angry and downright disgusted by your actions, this is not acceptable! Get out of my sight, the both of you and don't you dare come down these stairs until breakfast tomorrow!"

"Fine," James muttered as he stormed off, stamping upstairs angrily while Albus went to follow at a slower pace, his dad had never yelled at him like that before.

"I'm sorry," Albus mumbled under his breath as he started to turn away.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Al, I expected better," his dad said in a quieter tone behind Albus' back, Albus didn't say anything but just ran the rest of the way to his room so he could get there before the tears started falling. His dad's disappointment was even worse than detentions or no flying, he cried himself to sleep.

Albus was still feeling down about it the next day when he was called down for breakfast by Lily who didn't look happy at being used as an owl again, he resisted the urge to point out it could be worse and if she wanted to trade places with him then he'd be more than happy. James lumbered along behind him and Lily, yawning as they headed downstairs where Albus was surprised to see that breakfast wasn't ready yet and his dad was sitting at the table. He gave a look of askance at Lily who shrugged, seeming as clueless as he was, it took James a moment longer to notice in his haze of sleep but his eyes did widen in shock.

"Come and sit down," his dad told them and gestured for them to sit at the seats opposite him, they reluctantly did so exchanging puzzled looks, "I meant to tell you this yesterday but... well other things seemed more urgent so I'm going to tell you now, also just as fair warning before I get to the issue, the Scamanders are coming over later and staying for dinner tonight so best behavior."

"Any word on Lorcan?" Albus asked quietly and worriedly but his father shook his head sadly.

"Not yet but we're still looking. Anyway, as you all know Uncle Dudley and Aunt Millicent Dursley were killed a couple of months ago, leaving Malcolm, Daisy and Vern orphans. Their grandmother, Petunia, took in Malcolm and Daisy for the time being and I put an Auror on them in case of another attempt on Dursley lives while Vern could simply stay in Hogwarts. However it wasn't exactly a permanent solution, Petunia and I have discussed the issue in detail and we've come to a conclusion."

"Like we care what happens to Dursleys," James muttered under his breath, their dad either didn't notice or chose to just ignore it as he continued.

"Since they may still be in danger from Shadow forces and Millicent's family are unaware of the existence of the magical world, we do not think its safe to leave the children with them. Petunia is willing to care for them, she wishes the protection revoked but knows how to contact us if something happens or she notices anything suspicious and has been given an emergency Portkey in case they need a fast getaway. However since Vern is a wizard... we think it would be better and would make life easier if he was living with wizards so, also easier financially for Petunia to take on two so... Vern is coming to live with us."

"What?!" the three Potter kids burst out in unison as their jaws drops.

"Vern is moving in with us."

"You can't be serious?" Albus wondered.

"Not a Dursley! Make Petunia take him," James complained.

"No!" Lily wailed and their dad scowled at them.

"Vern is moving in and that's final," their dad told them firmly, "and I expect you to give him a much warmer welcome than you did just now, he just lost his parents and the last thing he needs is to be treated with hostility in the place he's coming to live."

"Do we have to?" James grumbled crossing his arms grumpily.

"Yes," their dad said in such a final tone that not even James could argue with, "he's a good kid and you don't have to like him, just be nice to him."

"Where's he gonna sleep?" Lily asked cautiously, "I don't want him to sleep in my room."

"Well there's a couple of options, one of you can volunteer to share with Vern or two of you can volunteer to share a room and give Vern your room, we thought we'd give you a chance to have a say rather than just moving you around as we see fit unless there's no volunteers."

James and Lily launched into a debate on where Vern should go while Albus fell silent, neither of them were going to volunteer and if no one volunteered then odds are his parents would put him with James and he'd have to give up his room, he'd lose no matter what. He didn't want to share a room James, or Lily, or even Vern but it was the matter of the lesser of two evils if he just agreed to let Vern move into his room. He got to know the boy a bit better and he thought Vern would be a better roommate than James, at least Vern was quieter.

"I'll do it," Albus announced with a resigned sigh before he could change his mind, his siblings looked at him in surprise while his dad smiled slightly, "Vern can share with me."

Albus was already regretted his decision. He had to spend the rest of the day preparing his room for Vern's arrival in summer, clearing things out to put in the bed they'd already gotten, rearranging the furniture, having Albus sort his stuff to get rid of things to make space for Vern's things, he even had to take all the posters and things he had hanging on the wall and limit them only to 'his' side of the room. Albus thought this was unfair, Vern wouldn't be there until the summer, he didn't see why he couldn't enjoy having his room the way he liked it for one week. It looked weird when it was done, Albus' side bursting with things and life whereas Vern's side was completely bare and desolate.

Albus sighed mournfully as he trudged downstairs to meet the Scamanders, he was actually glad to get to see them though, he did like Aunt Luna and Uncle Rolf and he liked the twins too. Or he had anyway, who knew if Lorcan was even still alive? It was a horrible thought but it had crossed his mind, his brain kept telling him it was the most obvious reason that Lysander had been found but not Lorcan but until he knew for sure he'd like to cling to hope too. It was strange seeing Lysander without Lorcan,

Lysander didn't actually any different though, he had the same short dirty blond hair from his mother as he had before with the same glinting amber eyes from his father, maybe he was a bit taller but he smiled all the same and ran over to hug him. Albus hugged him tightly back and was flooded with joy that washed away his bad mood, it was one thing to hear Lysander had been found but another to actually get to see him.

"Its so great to see you, Al!" Lysander exclaimed happily, pulling away as a smile split his face, "how are you? How's things? How's Hogwarts?"

"Good," Albus answered also smiling, "well things could be worse, have a share a room with Vern now - just spent the whole day getting it ready even - and I'm grounded but otherwise I can't complain. Hogwarts isn't too bad either, you'll see it yourself in September. How are you? How's things at home?"

"Pretty great, its so good to be home and have my parents again although..." Lysander told him and trailed off a bit as his smile wavered, "I do miss Lorcan a lot, its so weird without him. We were always together, y'know? He was the strong one, the one who knew what to do, the one who led, I feel lost without him."

"I'm sorry. They found you, its only a matter of time before they find Lorcan I'm sure."

"I hope so," Lysander said nodding before a smile snuck back onto his face again, "so why don't you show me your new-improved Vern sharing room? I can see where you need charms to keep away the Bazults."

"I have no idea what a Bazults is but... sure."

* * *

"Told you the Portkey works," Varanian told him almost triumphantly with a hint of smirk as they headed back towards the building and down into the basement, Varanian was serious again by the time they were down, "so tell me about what happened with the Potions Mistress."

"Why?" Scorpius wondered as he sat down on the chair.

"I'll tell you what I know if you tell me."

"Okay," Scorpius agreed and launched into an explanation on what had happened with Vipera and how he'd suspected her because of the Aurors keeping an eye on her, Varanian listened patiently and silently as usual, holding his questions until the end, "so what do you know about it?"

"I know the Shadow Aurors have been stealing from the stores of ingredients, she interrupted him and he attacked her, your timely arrival stopped him from finishing her off. The attackers from the Start of Term feast were trapped in Hogwarts, their Shadow Auror allies had been stealing ingredients from... the stores to make polyjuice potion to disguise them as other Aurors to leave Hogwarts without arousing suspicion or simply to move about without being questioned to keep an eye on persons of interest."

"Well that's creepy."

"Yeah but I think I've succeeded in my spell that detects the corrupts the wands, I'll teach it to you later although they'll know that you've done it, it makes the wands glow after all if they're corrupted. I'll come back to that though, I've found out more about the Shadows being after you. They're not just after you anymore but Marius, the Shadow Master's coma was caused by something to do with the Blood Runes and while you were the one to activate it the last time, Marius' blood was also in the obelisk. They've stopped trying to get you until they can get Marius too, I get the impression there's a plan in place or they're working on it but the Lieutenants are keeping it very close to their chests and way over the heads of the Shadows I usually follow."

"Anything else?" Scorpius asked feeling suddenly anxious for Calderon, "there's some things I wanted to talk to you about."

"I think I've figured out where they're keeping Lorcan, not with muggles but at a Shadow base location place. I was just about to check it out before you showed up."

"Well then we should go check it out right away."

"No," Varanian said firmly shaking his head, "its not going on against one muggle, if I'm right about this then there'll be Shadows there who can duel and defend themselves. Its dangerous and as much as you want to help, you're still twelve and aren't advanced or experienced enough to come especially if there's a lot of them and its heavily protected as I fear it is."

"Won't two even the odds?" Scorpius offered hopefully but Varanian's resolve didn't crack.

"I consider myself a fair duelist but with multiple attackers of varying skill its not easy, I might not even be able to protect myself let alone you and there's charms in place to protect it so its not like I can apparate us to safety if anything does go badly wrong."

"I..." Scorpius started to protest that he could be useful and help but stopped himself, it wasn't his parents being overly protective, Varanian did actually have a point even if Scorpius didn't like it. He still thought he could be useful though but wasting time arguing was time Varanian could be spending saving Lorcan, it had been four months-ish since Christmas and the poor boy could use a rescue, "I understand. Alright, I'll head back and you can head out."

"You said there were things you wanted to talk about," Varanian pointed out as Scorpius stood.

"It can wait, saving Lorcan is more important whether it checks out or not, you should go. Just contact me when you leave so I can know what happens."

"Fair enough," Varanian agreed as they headed back up the stairs, "but don't expect to hear anything until tomorrow, I'm not just jumping in blindly and it'll take time to figure out their defenses and get past them and night is a better time to attack because it'll catch them off-guard. I'll contact you tomorrow then unless I die or it turns out to be nothing, if its nothing then I'll contact you sooner."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded as they made it outside to the point of apparation as he put his hand over his ring hand again, "good luck, Varanian."

* * *

_"Brutus, are you awake?" a voice snapped loud enough to actually wake Brutus up._

_"No," Brutus mumbled sleepily into his pillow._

_"Well wake up then," Sal complained and Brutus groaned as he turned his head towards the direction of the voice, blinking the sleep from his bleary eyes as he did so._

_Sal had drew a chair up to sit beside his bed, not extremely close but close enough with her legs crossed at the odd way she preferred to sit. Despite her freedom she still seemed to prefer dark colors that blended into the background instead of bright ones that stood out, she also continued to favor pants over skirts or dresses and frequently wore long black coats that reached her ankles - beneath cloaks if they were outside, she said it made up for the perpetual cold she felt from being the Shadow Master. Despite the presumably early hour, she was fully dressed on the seat and watching him with her dark eyes that blissfully lacked the heavy lids of her mother. In truth she did bear a resemblance to Bellatrix as she and Tommy had as teenagers but wasn't an identical clone. She was her own person and had grown up actually to be quite beautiful. Sal smiled._

_"Do you know what today is?" Sal questioned and Brutus wracked his sleepy brain for an answer._

_"Your birthday?" Brutus half-guessed and half-recalled._

_"Yes, I'm twenty-one today. I'm twenty-one now in fact, I was born at one minute past six in the morning, Tommy five minutes later."_

_"Happy Birthday."_

_"Thank you."_

_"You couldn't have waited until later to get birthday wishes?" Brutus grumbled sitting up and suppressing a yawn, "moving countries have my mind shot from the time difference."_

_"I didn't wake you up so you could wish me a Happy Birthday, I woke you up because..." Sal trailed off before sitting up straighter and sounding more forceful, "because I'm not a child anymore, I've been off age for four years and not been a teenager for two. I'm not a child, I'm an adult, a woman."_

_"I noticed that," Brutus pointed out in confusion as Sal shifted nervously, "is it relevant to something else you want to research or... what?"_

_"I just um... well... I... I like you, Brutus, I... erm... I don't know how to do this," Sal said usually awkwardly and Brutus' only got more confused, this wasn't like her at all, she was always confident and articulate. Sal took a deep breath and pushed on, "I want us to be dating. I know what it means now and... I... I like you that way."_

_"What?" _

_Brutus was completely bewildered, was he dreaming or something? Sal opened her mouth to reply before seeming to change her mind as she stood up and crossed the gap between them, he noticed an odd perfume smell coming from her and was about to repeat his question when she leaned down slightly and pressed her lips against his. Brutus was too stunned to react, overwhelmed by the scent and kissed back instinctively before he thought better of it, he felt Sal's smile through his lips before she wrapped her arms around his shoulders gently. He tried not to relish it but it had been far too long since he'd last kissed a woman, reluctantly he gently started to pull Sal away as she leaned slightly back anyway to draw breath. She didn't move her arms away though, the scent of her perfume still intense.  
_

_"Are you wearing perfume?" Brutus asked in a whisper._

_"Yeah, the guy at the market stall said it was good for attracting a mate," Sal answered equally quietly but she was still smiling, "do you like it?"_

_"Err... yeah but we can't... we can't do this Sal," Brutus pointed out and Sal's smile faded but she didn't pull away._

_"Did I kiss wrong?"_

_"No, no, you're a pretty... not bad kisser but you know..." Brutus stumbled out awkwardly, trying to remember why it was improper and ignore the part of his brain demanding to know why he was turning down the beautiful woman inches from his face who was throwing herself at him.  
_

_"No, I don't know, what?"_

_"You're my master and I'm just a follower, I'm ten years older than you and you know just... you're very beautiful and I'm... very not, it wouldn't work."_

_"I'm the Shadow Master, I can do what I want," Sal stated stubbornly, "I don't understand your point about how it matters that you're my follower, I don't care about the age. Who would you rather I am dating? Rabastan? He's even older and since we're basically niece and uncle and think of ourselves as such then it would just be weird and... no. I l-like you, Brutus, and I've never seen you as ugly, you're the most beautiful person I know... It won't work if we don't even give it a try."_

_The last line was a whisper and she searched his face almost fearfully, was she actually afraid of him rejecting her? He was only doing it because he had come to care about her, she'd be much better off with someone else... His train of thought trailed off as he did realize it was stupid, Sal wasn't like normal woman and she couldn't just go to the Leaky Cauldron to meet people, she was the daughter of Voldemort planning a campaign to conquer the world and create a better one which didn't help her love life any. He met her shadowy eyes carefully, it would never work if they didn't try and he was lonely too, it'd be an odd change to actually date a woman who liked him for who he was not because his family were loaded. He sighed and shifted nervously._

_"Alright," Brutus agreed, "we can... be dating now."_

_Sal's smile lit up her face as she kissed him once more, this time he didn't kiss back in surprise and encircled his arms around her to draw her close while she ran her hands through his hair. He felt her smile through the kiss again only that time he returned the smile._


	57. II: Secret-Keepers

_**Thanks to: **Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

_**I can feel that Albus is sorry for what he's done but James he just doesn't care does he?  
**No he doesn't, James genuinely actually believes he's done nothing wrong. He thinks of his bullying as justified because he only picks on people he doesn't like who he thinks deserve it, he believes Maurice was completely out of line and his actions were a justified revenge and that everyone is being unfair  
_

* * *

Scorpius found himself distracted and anxious all day, when Varanian didn't contact him by the time his parents got back before dinner he decided that the lead had definitely payed off. It was just a matter of waiting even more to see if Varanian found Lorcan or at least anything useful. He sent off his gift to Molly and then found himself struggling with just waiting, it took him awhile to get to sleep, he kept putting off going to bed in the first place in case Varanian contacted him but he didn't. Nor did he that morning, the afternoon came and Scorpius still heard nothing, he fiddled with the ring idly on his finger waiting but nothing. Finally he decided to just talk to Varanian instead.

"Varanian?" Scorpius questioned pressing his wand tip against the ring.

He waited. And waited. And waited some more. After fifteen minutes of no reply he tried again. And waited. And waited again. Another fifteen minutes with no reply so he tried again. And again. After over an hour of unsuccessful attempts, Scorpius was even more worried, Varanian had said it would be dangerous. Was he alright? Was he hurt? Was he captured? Was he even alive? Was he just being annoying? Had he just lost his ring? Scorpius had no idea where Varanian had gone, he'd never mentioned the location. But he could check the basement, see if Varanian had it written down somewhere or maybe he'd just be there.

Scorpius told his family again he was taking a nap and didn't want to be disturbed before activating the Portkey ring again to transport himself back, he hurried towards the building. He stopped hastily when he noticed a bloody handprint on the door, there was no other signs of damage though. He drew his wand out in readiness, heart pounding as he wondered whether the Shadows had managed to follow Varanian back or maybe Varanian just had blood on his hand or something. He pressed on, scanning around for any signs of disturbance or people, there were droplets of crimson staining the floor between the door and trapdoor but he didn't see anything else or hear anything, still, Scorpius systematically checked every room in the house just to make sure first. Every single one was as empty and disused as when Varanian had showed them to him before, the dust hadn't been disturbed any either so Scorpius thought it was safe enough to enter the basement and check down there.

He still kept his wand out though as he crept down, more blood speckled the steps and he could hear someone's jerky breathing and make out a figure lying on the bed. He checked the rest of the room to make sure it was empty before finally relaxing and going over to the bed, it was Varanian only he looked in a bad way. His eyes were closed and his breathing was ragged, he was shirtless but his chest was heavily bandaged but they were soaked through with blood, his hands were also bloody but it was dried and probably from bandaging his chest wound rather than being injured, Scorpius couldn't see any cuts on them anyway.

"Varanian?" Scorpius questioned once more Varanian didn't respond or give any indication of having heard him, hesitantly he reached out to shake Varanian's arm gently, he cringed and his breathing became more rapid but he still didn't awaken. Scorpius moved his hand away and Varanian's face relaxed a bit although he still looked in pain, his breathing jerkily going back to how it had been before Scorpius had touched his arm.

Scorpius didn't know what to do, he didn't know anything about healing or any healing spells although since they were probably caused by the corrupted Shadow wands, he supposed it probably would have been useless anyway. Scorpius swallowed nervously and pulled up the chair beside Varanian, trying to figure out what to do. He couldn't take Varanian to a hospital - even ignoring the fact he could only Portkey back to his home - as Varanian was still a fugitive, he'd be caught and the Shadows would kill him. He couldn't bring a healer to Varanian because they'd know about the secret location and also turn him in. He didn't know much about injuries but he was pretty sure Varanian's chances weren't high if he just left him there alone, injured and unconscious. _Why not let him die? You don't even like him_, his mind pointed out and for a second Scorpius actually considered it before mentally slapping himself. Where had that come from? He wasn't going to just leave Varanian to die.

He tried to summon what little he knew about injuries, Shadow wounds needed some special potion to that eased the taint or something so healing could happen to a certain degree or something, Varanian did actually keep some potions around that he thought might be useful such as for injures although he didn't label them and Scorpius didn't know what did what, there was some at home too but they were for non-life threatening things. Last year when he'd had the soles of his feet injured, Michael had said things about cleaning the wound to stop infecting and that horrible stinging stuff was to also stop infecting... and bandages needed to be changed or have the blood cleaned off and put back on when they'd been soiled too much, he thought Varanian's probably needed that. Of course all that was pointless if the wound was already infecting or deep enough to be causing worse damage, he didn't know how to counteract that. Or even how to tell if either of those happened or even any other medical things that he hadn't thought of or knew of.

He sighed heavily, wishing Michael was there because he'd probably know what to do. Michael... Scorpius could maybe get him to help, he had his appointment in St Mungo's that day do if Scorpius returned home then Flooed there to get Michael. He could ask him what to do to help Varanian - without telling him that it was Varanian - and then do it. It was worth a shot, he had to do something.

"Don't worry, Varanian, I'll be back," Scorpius promised even though Varanian gave no indication of hearing him still before heading back outside to Portkey back.

He pocketed some Galleons and snuck out of his room to one of the fireplaces to Floo from, it was a big house and there were several, he picked the one furthest from where his family would be. If anyone asked then he was going to give his friend moral support but knew his parents would say no so went without permission, it sounded plausible enough as he tossed the powder into the flames turning them emerald. St Mungo's had an extension in the basement of fireplaces for people to get there, there was a charge so hence the coins. He called the name, felt the sensation of Floo travel and simply stepped out of the fireplace.

There was about ten of them that Scorpius could see, all with people coming out of them and heading towards the left as the right end of the room was a solid wall. There was an annoying queue, Scorpius was behind some elderly man who kept sneezing out purple ooze, Scorpius cringed and wondered why the queue until he got to the door. There was a man standing in front of it dressed in some kind of uniform with a St Mungo's name tag, there was some kind of canister beside him.

"Are you by yourself?" the man asked in a bored, drawling voice.

"Yes," Scorpius pointed out thinking it was fairly obvious.

"Are you here as a patient or a visitor?"

"A visitor."

"Are you under seventeen?"

"Yes."

"That'll be two Galleons then, please," the man told him offering out his hand.

"Two Galleons to visit a _hospital_? Isn't that a little harsh?" Scorpius pointed out as he handed over the coins.

"Its cheaper for patients than for visitors. Seniors, underage children and members of the Ministry or relatives of hospital staff get a discount. St Mungo's staff and infants are free," the man reeled off as if from memory as he dropped the coins in the canister and stepped aside, "you can enter now, please remember there is also a charge to access the fireplaces if you choose to leave by them. I hope your experience here is a pleasant one. Next!"

Scorpius went through the doorway while the next person stepped up, it led to stairway that he followed up into the main entrance hall of the hospital, he scowled darkly as he recalled what had happened the last time he'd been there. There was _another_ queue he had to get in line to speak to the Welcome Witch, he couldn't see he had a choice though, it wasn't even like he could tell them that it was important. Of course it would all be a waste of time if Michael had already had his appointment or it wasn't until later, he was pretty sure - or at least hopeful - that it was the afternoon.

"Well good afternoon there young man and welcome to St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies! How can I be of service?" the Welcome Witch greeted him brightly and slightly too loudly with a toothy smile that literally seemed to take up half her face.

"I'm here to see my friend, Michael Sanford, he was getting assessed about a prosthetic eye," Scorpius answered and the woman's smile actually managed to increase.

"Excellent, young man!" the Welcome Witch continued in the same cheerfully loud tone as she checked the books and gave him directions, it was actually kind of disturbing, "ah yes! Here we go! A young Michael Harold Sanford, aged twelve for an assessment about a prosthetic eye! The assessment should just about be over now unless its ran over but you're more than welcome to check! I hope it goes well for you friend! Happy Easter, young man!"

"Thank you," Scorpius mumbled as he went to follow the still smiling woman's directions, he heard them before he saw them.

"Well you do have the rest of the holidays to think about it," Crystal's voice was saying as he rounded the bend, she and Michael were sitting on the edge of one of the beds on the end, "you don't have to decide right now."

"I know," Michael said quietly before seeming to notice Scorpius, his head did a double take, "Scorpius? What are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see how it went and be here for moral support," Scorpius lied and felt guilty.

"That's sweet," Crystal told him with a smile before turning to Michael and kissing him gently on the forehead, "I'll leave you two here to chat for a moment while I call my husband to check in, he worries, back soon."

"Okay, Crystal," Michael agreed as his mum left, Scorpius went over to sit beside Michael instead, "there's not much to say, they just checked my eye over and the scars to make sure there is nothing they can do and then talked about the prosthetic ones. They have to take my bad eye out permanently to put one in, they say they've improved a lot since that Mad-Eye Albus, Abby and Rose talked about and they don't usually give out eyes that can see through things, it was just because he was an Auror and they're more expensive anyway. They-"

"That's great, Michael," Scorpius interrupted, not wanting to waste anymore time and Michael sighed heavily.

"So not here for moral support and to know how it went?"

"No, I just wanted to ask you for some advice and its really important."

"Okay, fine. What is it?"

"Well since you know so much about injuries and healing, I was wondering. What would you do to help someone who'd been injured if you couldn't get them to a healer?"

"It would depend on how they're injured," Michael said with a bemused expression.

"Erm... Some kind of curse wound the Shadows cause and erm... there was blood through the bandages."

"Well that's very specific," Michael quipped sarcastically, "I need to know what the wound would be, is it a kind of slash? Or more of a stab wound? Is it a broken bone coming through the skin? Is it a head wound? Limb? Torso? Small wound? Big wound? Deep wound? Shallow wound? There's a lot of factors to take into account and not taking them to a healer would just be silly, just because I know a bit about that stuff doesn't mean its not still better to get someone to a healer. Why are you asking me anyway?"

"What would you do if you came across an injured person whose chest is soaked in a bloody bandage and is unconscious and you strongly suspect its a Shadow wound?"

"Take the bandages off to see how they're injured."

"Can't you just guess?" Scorpius pleaded desperately.

"No. Why are you asking me this? Is someone hurt?"

"I can't tell you, I just need to know what to do if that situation ever arose."

"Well again, I'd have to know more about the wound and see it for myself. Scorpius, tell me what's going on."

"I can't."

"If someone's hurt you can't keep it a secret, whatever the reason, some people die if medical help doesn't get to them in time," Michael pointed out forcefully, "you want my advice? Tell a healer before this person dies."

"I really can't, Michael."

"Fine then, I will," Michael said with a shrug standing and Scorpius jumped up and grabbed his wrist in panic, Michael flinched, "Scorpius, I don't want a death on my conscience."

"If you tell people then there _will_ be a death on your conscience," Scorpius protested desperately.

"So someone_ is_ hurt? Scorpius you have to tell someone."

Scorpius sighed heavily and looked into his friend's mismatched eyes, Michael was very serious and Scorpius had just stupidly slipped into verbally admitting he was asking about someone injured. Scorpius may be able to lie his way out of it, they had no proof but Michael was sure and he might lose his friendship over and Varanian lose his life. Both were things he wanted to avoid. If he could tell Michael about Varanian then he'd understand, if he could take Michael to Varanian then it'd be even better... But that would mean having to tell Michael about it and show him, Michael would know about the ring, about Varanian, about fighting the Shadows... Could Scorpius really trust him with that? If Varanian did survive he'd probably kill Scorpius but what choice did he really have?

"Okay, come with me," Scorpius told him reluctantly, keeping his grip on Michael's arm and leading him away for some privacy despite Michael's protests, he pulled him into a supply closet and shut the door before holding his hand over the ring, "put your hand over mine."

"Why?"

"Do it and I'll tell you," Scorpius informed him seriously and Michael frowned as he did so, "go."

He immediately felt the sensation of a hook dragging him backwards by the naval, this time very aware of Michael's hand over his before they came out near Varanian's place. Michael fell backwards while Scorpius managed to remained on his feet, he helped Michael up, who was gaping around in shock.

"What did you do?! Where are we?!" Michael burst out frantically and Scorpius just took his wrist again and led him in the right direction, "Scorpius, answer me!"

"Its a Portkey, a magical thing that transports you to a location instantaneously," Scorpius explained as they reached the building, he knew Michael wouldn't be able to see it but he couldn't physically tell him about it however he could show him. He took a deep breath, there was no going back now, before pushing open the door and leading Michael inside, "and this is a building protected by the Fidelius Charm, you're now a Secret-Keeper like I am."

"A what? Scorpius, I don't understand any of this. Crystal will be worried," Michael pointed out worriedly as Scorpius opened the trapdoor to the basement.

"Okay so the short version, remember how I've been saying that Varanian was innocent?"

"Err... yeah."

"I know it not just because of last year's events but because I've been in contact with him, some of the Aurors are on the Shadows' side and they tried to kill him which is why he escaped and he's been fighting them ever since. He's trying to stop the Shadow Master - the _real_ Shadow Master - and the Shadows, we both are. He was going to a place he thought was an important Shadow location and where they were holding a kidnapped boy and he got hurt, I just found him unconscious or injured but I don't know how to help him. I can't get a real healer because they'll turn him in and the Shadows will kill him for sure, you have to help."

"Scorpius I just..." Michael began and just trailed off looking completely stunned, "I really did not see this coming... And you do realize I'm not a perfect substitute for a healer or a doctor?"

"Its better than nothing," Scorpius shrugged and Michael only hesitated slightly before sighing.

"Alright... I'll see what I can do."

"Great, thank you," Scorpius said gratefully as he led Michael down into the basement, "I'll take you back to the hospital right after and we can tell your mother some story to cover. And this place is protected so its okay to use magic."

Michael nodded in understanding as he went over to Varanian, pausing for a moment with a solemn expression before going over to him and taking off the bandages. Scorpius cringed, his burn scars extended far beyond his hands to every visible part of his chest, they weren't his only scars although they all seemed less vivid although the words 'blood traitor' were scarred beneath his collar bone in large capital letters. The fresh wound overlapped it all, an odd starburst shape concentrated on the left side of his chest and spreading out from there, it still seemed to be oozing blood.

Scorpius moved away to retrieve the selection of potions that Varanian had in case Michael thought any of them would be useful, he recognized the blood-replenishing potion himself and that would definitely be useful. Michael did give Varanian that, he also identified the ones carrying the solution that helped Shadow-injuries and the same orange one he'd asked him to get for Vipera as it helped stop bleeding as well as another one that worked to prevent infection - apparently his sessions with Vipera were paying off, the rest were either not useful or unknown. Scorpius just hung back as Michael saw to Varanian's wounds.

"These wounds definitely need stitches to close them up," Michael told him after a few minutes.

"I can go back to the hospital to get them," Scorpius pointed out starting to head up the stairs as Michael ran after him.

"No! You can't steal from a_ hospital _and I've never done stitches before either, magically or muggley."

"Its not really stealing, if we took him to St Mungo's then they'd use it on him anyway," Scorpius informed him seriously and Michael still looked uncertain but not outright against it, he deserved them anyway to make up for the awful way the healers had treated him when his parents had dragged him there, "Varanian needs them and I'm sure they have plenty anyway. And you've seen stitches done, haven't you?"

"Yeah."

"So just do what they did, I'll be back."

Scorpius ran back outside to Portkey back to St Mungo's, since he'd came from there the ring returned back to the hospital instead of his home which was actually pretty good. The supply closet actually seemed pretty full, Scorpius didn't actually feel guilty for taking the suture thread or the weird curved needle. Why should he feel guilty? Hoping he had enough, Scorpius Portkeyed back and ran back to the basement. Michael looked incredible nervous as he threaded the curved needle easily and took out his wand before turning back to the still unconscious Varanian. Scorpius looked away as Michael started to stitch the widest wound and only looked back when he heard Michael say a spell he'd never heard before, watching in surprise as the needle started stitching by itself in the direction Michael moved his wand with it.

"Its a self-stitching needle," Michael explained with a weak smile, "once you get it going you just need to guide it and it does all the work. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Cool and... ick," Scorpius offered stepping back while , he had a good respect for healing and it was useful but it still wasn't the funnest thing to watch.

No wonder Marigold complained so much, although still, if it bothered him that much he should pick a better profession. It didn't take Michael long with the self-stitching needle, cleaned the wound again and added more potion and then he just needed to put the bandages back. They looked much neater and tighter than before, then again, it was probably a lot more difficult to bandage yourself while bleeding and in pain than it was for someone else to see to you.

"Alright, I've done all I can," Michael announced taking a deep breath, "let's go back before Crystal gets too worried."

"Okay, thank you," Scorpius offered as they headed back up the stairs, "and erm... you won't tell anyone will you? It could get Varanian killed."

"I won't," Michael sighed.

"So erm... what were you saying about the prosthetic eyes?" Scorpius asked to try change the subject and cheer him up as they left the house and Portkeyed back to St Mungo's, Michael put back the thread they hadn't used although since the needle was now tainted with Varanian's blood, he'd left that.

"I don't want to talk about it," Michael said shortly, "just go back home, I'll see you back on the train."

"What about Crystal?"

"I'll just tell her you had to leave and I went to see you off, got lost on the way back."

"Okay then, see you and thanks again."


	58. II: Stress and Recovery

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, Lucifersdaughter and Aya Diefair for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_How did the hospital not notice Scorpius' wrist when he was examined?_**  
_They did notice but they already knew about his wrist from seeing to his injuries after he was returned from being kidnapped, they think the not-bruising is real bruising and the wrist scar is preventing it from being healed or that or he's subconsciously blocking their healing because he didn't even want to be examined in the first place. Either way there's nothing they could do and assumed it would heal naturally so they let him go_

* * *

Scorpius Flooed back home and was surprised to find how little time had passed, he returned to check Varanian was alright before returning to stay home until dinner before returning to check on Varanian again who was still unconscious but still alive before bed. Scorpius lay awake that night thinking about the days events, Michael knowing about Varanian. He should have been more freaked out than he was but actually he felt oddly relieved, he wouldn't have to keep it a secret anymore from Michael and him knowing also gave him someone to talk to about it aside from Varanian, maybe Michael would have some idea how to figure out the Shadow Auror. Although it did still worry him a bit and he felt a bit bad for breaking Varanian's confidence but then, if he hadn't then Varanian would've died, it wasn't as if he'd done it lightly or let it slip out stupidly.

The next two days of Easter were frustrating, his parents kept wanting to spend time with him which impeded his attempts to check on Varanian every hour, it was more like an hour and a bit. Varanian remained unconscious for almost the whole two days - or at least when Scorpius was there - and his bandages weren't blood-soaked when he checked on him which he thought was a plus. The only time he was awake was in the evening of the second day, he was weakly reaching out with his arm for the bottle of water on the table. Scorpius had taken the bottle for him, Varanian had stopped reaching and Scorpius had thought he'd fallen back asleep until he croaked for the water, he still hadn't seemed with it though as he'd dropped it when Scorpius handed it to him then dropped it again the second time. Finally Scorpius just opened it himself and helped him to drink it, when the bottle was almost completely drained his head had fallen back as he slipped into unconscious once more and not been awake the other times that Scorpius checked on him.

The next day was better, Varanian had been awake the first time that Scorpius checked on him after breakfast, reaching for the bottle that Scorpius had left in its place. This time Scorpius just opened it himself and helped him to drink it, that time Varanian managed to completely drain the bottle before falling back asleep. He'd been awake again in the afternoon, reaching for the replacement bottle again with hands that Scorpius realized Michael had also washed because they were no longer coated in dried blood, this time when Scorpius tried to help he actually responded though.

"I can drink it myself, I'm not a bloody invalid," Varanian had growled albeit weakly, Scorpius thought it was a good time that he was sounding more like himself.

Scorpius handed him the bottle, it looked incredibly difficult without help. He tried to sit up several times, each time his face became a mask of pain and he let his head fall back again. He refused Scorpius' offer of help again and finally just poured into his mouth while still lying down, he only drank about half that time before putting it back down, he seemed to be struggling to keep his eyes open.

"How are you doing?" Scorpius asked gently.

"How does it look like I'm doing?" Varanian retorted but didn't manage to put the effort into snapping at him, "lot of pain, stupid weak body..."

Varanian slipped back into unconsciousness when he trailed off, maybe Scorpius was just feeling hopeful but he thought Varanian's breathing seemed more even although still not normal. Scorpius left him to return home and waited for dinner, he asked to eat it in his room and brought it back to share with Varanian in case he was hungry, it would probably be good for Varanian to eat. Varanian's eyes flicked open at the sound of his name, he seemed to be putting his effort into staying conscious, he didn't eat much but Scorpius thought a few bites were better than nothing.

* * *

Michael barely slept the next few days, haunted by memories, tormented by his choices, his eyes felt so raw from crying and gritty by Tuesday that it wouldn't surprise him if he hadn't slept at all. He regretted helping Varanian, Scorpius had just sprung everything on him so fast that he hadn't really had time to see it through and his instinct had been to help the injured man bleeding to death even if he was the same one who'd spent the past year torturing him. But now he worried about it, what if Scorpius was wrong and Varanian _was_ the Shadow Master or at least working with the Shadows and was just tricking him? He could've just saved the source of all evil and anything Varanian did from that point was his completely his fault. He had so many questions but he knew Scorpius wouldn't give him an answer, he never did.

And ironically the other thing weighing heavily on his mind was also partially because of Scorpius, the decision to get a prosthetic or not. Its importance seemed diminished in comparison to his concerns about helping an evil person but yet still refused to leave his thoughts, he'd made his decision the day he'd seen the specialist but it hadn't stopped him grappling with it since. Rationally it made sense to everyone, he'd be able to see better again and he didn't disagree with them. The part that bothered him was the part everyone seemed to forget about or just not think mattered, actually having to lose his eye to get it replaced. Maybe they considered his eye already gone but he was aware of it even if it was useless and couldn't see, it was still there, it was still his eye, it was still a part of him. And he'd have to give it up. He considered himself a pretty useless person and sacrificing a useless part of himself just seemed oddly cruel to him, if he got rid of everything he thought was bad about himself then there'd be nothing left and he wouldn't be himself anymore.

Michael knew that he was probably being irrational, thinking about something stupidly in a way you weren't supposed to but that didn't stop him thinking those thoughts. He was scared, the thought of losing his eye scared him even if it was the right thing. Then again, the right thing usually was the scariest and the most painful, the wrong thing was the easy way out. His conversation with the new Divination professor had helped, it was like any kind of loss, you mourned, accepted and tried your best to move on. Until it actually happened though, he was scared and a part of him screamed to back out but he refused to listen.

He still couldn't sleep though, he couldn't even eat for fear of losing it again. He got up that day like any other at home - the basement felt strange since he spent so much time in Hogwarts, it literally felt like another world - and got baby Bertie up, changed him and fed him before starting breakfast for the other little ones who woke early to watch the cartoons in the morning. At least it kept them quiet, he'd just set the plates down when the phone rang. Michael sighed as he answered it, he didn't to learn Divination to know who was calling and why.

"Hi Jack," Michael offered in a tone that hid his disappointment, at least he called beforehand at least this time.

"_Hey Mikey!_" Jack's voice greeted him brightly and Michael resisted the urge to sigh again, he really wished he could be wrong.

"_Michael_," Michael corrected instinctively, any other dad would get their only child's name right after twelve years.

"_Got it, Mikey. I kinda have bad news I'm afraid, when Crystal asked me to take you to hospital I forgot to see if I had anything planned and... I kinda did._"

"Its okay, I understand."

"_I really... I really did mean to make it this time - I swear! - but this is just an urgent appointment I can't get out of, they don't let you change the time or day_."

"Its fine, really, I understand," Michael insisted, he'd stopped expecting Jack to show up a long time ago.

"_Really? Great, thanks_," Jack burst out sounding relieved, "_I'll make it up to you, Mikey, I promise_."

"Sure," Michael stated dismissively and miserably, just another broken promise, "I've got to go now, hope your appointment goes well. Bye, Jack."

Michael didn't wait for a reply before hanging up, he had better things to do than wait for Jack, he still had chores to do. He did the dishes when the little ones were done before going upstairs to lay out their clothes for day, calling them up to get changed and helping the younger ones to do so, tidied up their rooms and the living room just in time before Crystal returned from her night shift. She was immediately pounced upon by the little ones except Bertie, she tiredly but happily greeted them all and went over to him to be handed baby Bertie, the little guy was getting heavy.

"Jack can't make it," Michael told her after she'd cooed over Bertie for a minute, Crystal sighed but didn't look the slightest bit surprised.

"Good thing Ruth was coming over anyway," Crystal pointed out, Ruth being Bob's mother and the babysitter, neither of them liked her particularly much but much like Bob anyone family was royalty and anyone not was dirt. Ruth did take good care of the little ones - for free even - and doted on them, she wasn't lazy like her son and thankfully didn't resort to violence like he did although Michael was pretty sure she knew and approved of what Bob was like with him and Crystal, "I'll take you after all."

It didn't take long for Ruth to arrive, the little ones pounced on her with the same enthusiasm as she came in. Unlike Bob, she was pencil thin although her eyes were the same shade of cold blue and just as piercing and hate-filled when they looked at him, she also had the same hooked nose although hers didn't look like it had been broken. She also was rather worried about her age, she had bleach blonde hair and lathered her face in so many layers of makeup that it looked not only completely unnatural but completely ridiculous, aided by the youthful clothes she wore.

"Hello my darlings!" Ruth greeted the little ones in a sweeping hug that reminded him of a bird zooming down over its prey before sparing him and Crystal a disgusted glance, "Crystal, Sanford."

"Its Michael," Crystal corrected her defensively.

"Well not all of us can be as young with as perfect memories as you have, my dear," Ruth complained before smirking, "looking a little rundown, are we?"

"Yes," Crystal admitted disinterestedly and tiredly, "Bertie's just about ready for his nap, they've all had their breakfast and are dressed, Bob's not up yet. I'll be back in a few hours, last time the traffic was bad leaving Oxford but good coming back from London so it depends on the traffic how long. I'm on the cell if you need me for anything."

"Why would anyone need _you_ for anything?" Ruth sneered but Crystal really looked too tired to care.

"Don't talk to my mother like that," Michael spoke up protectively and Ruth narrowed her eyes darkly at him in a very Bob-like way.

"It doesn't matter, Michael, come on," Crystal said gently leading him out the door towards, "I don't have time, I have work at the restaurant later so I have to be back soon as I can."

"You won't be there for the whole... thing?" Michael wondered feeling an increased burst of anxiety as they got into the beat-up old rust bucket of a car they had, Crystal looked like she felt a stab of guilt and he regretted saying it as much as he desperately didn't want to be alone at that moment in time, she came first, "I was just curious, getting picked up tomorrow when its over with then?"

"Yes. You know I would be there if I could, I want to, I _really_, really do but we need the money and my restaurant boss pays higher for working Easter week."

"Its okay, Crystal," Michael told her and smiled a convincing smile that visibly seemed to ease her worry, "its magic, its not like an operation or anything. I'm completely fine, you'd just be sitting around bored anyway."

"Alright."

* * *

Scorpius was surprised when the next day he realized that it was the last day of the Easter break, tomorrow he'd be getting the Hogwarts Express back to school again. He had breakfast with his family but asked for seconds and to eat the seconds in his room, he thought it would be better for Varanian to have a bigger portion and less suspicious for his parents, they couldn't complain when he had actually eaten with them and since they didn't have seconds he would've been alone anyway. He was pleasantly surprised to find Varanian was sitting up in the bed when he returned, wand out and flicking it at his boards of notes to look at them.

"I brought you some breakfast in case you were hungry," Scorpius told him as he came down the stairs, Varanian inclined his head in acknowledgement without looking away from the boards, he seemed to be blinking an usual amount, "shouldn't you be resting or something?"

"I _am_ resting," Varanian growled, "doesn't mean I can't still work."

"I think resting means not working," Scorpius pointed out.

"I'm in a lot of pain either way, distracting yourself is better than just lying there suffering."

"Fine. What are you working on then?"

"Identifying the Shadows at Pandoran Hills, where their base is."

"Was Lorcan there?" Scorpius asked anxiously as he handed Varanian the bowl after he'd stopped what he was doing.

"I think so but I didn't get to him, its a maze in there and as you probably guessed there's Shadows."

"What are you going to do?"

"Wait till I've recovered and try again. After staking it out more and coming up with a different plan."

"Is that really safe? You nearly died."

"I'm can't give up and I can't get anyone to help me."

"There's me," Scorpius pointed out but Varanian started to shake his head before seeming to think better of it.

"You're talented for a twelve year old but against fully trained adults? The biggest problem actually isn't the enemy but whatever enchantment they have on the building, when you get inside you get really disorientated, the walls and floor keep moving. Its hard to fight back or find your way back out when everything's like that," Varanian explained before looking hesitant, "and erm... thank you, for not letting me die. I didn't know you knew anything about healing."

"I erm... yeah about that," Scorpius began equally hesitantly while Varanian raised an eyebrow at him, he knew he'd had to tell him eventually but it still made him shift nervously, "I... don't know much about healing but I was um... pretty a hundred percent sure you were going to die without help so... I..."

"Please tell me you didn't," Varanian interrupted darkly.

"My friend, Michael, knows about injuries and things... I brought him here and he saved your life."

"Are you insane?! How could you do that!"

"You were going to die!"

"Well then you should have let me instead of compromising the security of this place," Varanian stated stubbornly.

"Now you're the insane one!" Scorpius protested crossing his arms, "I didn't have a choice and I trust Michael, he won't tell anyone and he did _save your life_. Maybe he could actually help."

"No, he can't. He's a white soul which makes him vulnerable to Specter possession. It'd be better if I erased his memory of it."

"No! You can't do that!" Scorpius yelled in panic.

"I don't have a choice," Varanian said calmly.

"Yes you do!"

"Well so did you."

"You're such a jerk, I hate you! Next time I'll just let you die!"

"Good."

"Good?"

"Fine."

"Screw you!" Scorpius snapped as he stormed off back upstairs, his wrist searing as he slammed the trapdoor behind him.

Upstairs his wrist was still burning and he noticed the moldy peeling wallpaper was aflame, he almost hesitated before putting it out as he recalled Varanian's fear of fire and the thought of leaving it burning to spite him crossed his mind for a second but he discarded it, he wasn't that cruel and it was dangerous. He put out the flames and returned outside to Portkey home, throwing himself down on his bed in anger.

What was wrong with Varanian?! Michael had saved his life, he didn't deserve to have his memory erased plus wasn't that supposed to be not healthy on children? _I told you that you should have just let him die,_ his mind pointed out and he resisted the urge to tell himself to shut up. Varanian was completely out of his mind to suggest making Michael forget, Scorpius wouldn't have told him if he wasn't desperate and he didn't trust Michael. So what if he could possessed? So could the Embrys and they had a way of contacting Varanian. He'd tell Varanian that next time he saw him, he wasn't going to let Varanian erase part of his friend's mind.

When had Varanian even started considering it acceptable to erase people's minds? Probably the same time he decided it was alright to break other laws like stealing or the methods he used for spying or making Portkeys. Then again, Scorpius thought those things were alright too, he'd stolen from St Mungo's after all. He recalled abruptly last year how much the decision to take the Blood Rune book from the library had bothered him, yet he'd stolen from an actual hospital and had no issue with Varanian's lawbreaking or his own, even speaking to him was probably a crime. But what was right and wrong anymore? What had happened to him?

He felt as though the whole world was against him, he couldn't trust muggles but magical people were just as bad and all of them were suspect to being Shadows. He couldn't trust the Ministry or Aurors that were supposed to keep them safe, he couldn't even trust most of the staff at Hogwarts, in fact he couldn't even trust his own parents after they'd dragged him to St Mungo's. He didn't know when he'd started crying but tears were seeping from his eyes, he just wanted to be normal, he didn't even want to have to worry about those things.

"Scorpius, are you alright in there?" his mother called and he noticed the locked door handle twitch as she tried o open it, be wiped his eyes quickly and hoped his voice didn't betray his mood.

"Yes, I'm fine!" Scorpius yelled back.

"Are you sure? You sound upset."

"I said I'm fine! Its nothing to drag me to St Mungo's against my will for. Leave me alone!"

He thought she would say something, tell him again that it was for his own good and he was overreacting and he didn't understand anything but she didn't. He just heard her footsteps slowly receding away, it did stop him from crying though, the world wouldn't even give him a minute of privacy to cry. To kill time and distract himself, he just started packing his things up for Hogwarts ready although he was looking forward to it less with the thought that Michael might be having his memory part-erased soon. Scorpius only stopped to head down to lunch before he heard his parents talking which brought him to a halt.

"Its like we barely know him anymore," his mother was saying sounding as if she'd been crying, "he's so distant, he always wants to be alone so much so its not even like he's here sometimes and now he just hates us."

"Scorpius does not hate us," his father told her seeming to make an effort to sound comforting, "he's just upset, he's been through a lot but he's a smart boy, we just need to give him some space and he'll come around to understand we were just trying to do what's best for him and make sure he was alright. He knows we love him and we're just trying to help him."

"Yeah right," Scorpius muttered bitterly under his breath heading back upstairs, he wasn't too hungry to be unable to wait until dinner.

His parents said nothing of what they'd been talking about at dinner, Scorpius wasn't sure what he'd been expecting but it was the same as every dinner, his parents and grandmother trying to make small trivial conversation and Scorpius not being particularly engaged or interested in what they were saying. He had a very strong mind to just forget Varanian and not bring him anything to eat but then he started feeling cruel, crossing the line or not he could understand Varanian's concerns about breached security and he was badly injured, he wasn't in much condition to defend himself or get away if his place was attacked. That didn't make it right and he still intended to argue his point for Michael but he didn't think it was right to let Varanian starve, actually he'd started to worry whether Varanian would be alright by himself when Scorpius was back in Hogwarts.

When he got back, he saw Varanian had finished his bowl of breakfast but was sleeping again. Scorpius was uncertain whether to just leave him or not but ultimately decided sleep could wait, Varanian didn't look like he was having a good dream anyway, Scorpius was there now and the food would be cold later. He tried calling Varanian's name but he remained asleep, instead Scorpius had to shake him gently before he stirred and cringed.

"I apologize for threatening to erase your friend's memory," Varanian said with a sigh before closing his eyes again, "I won't, it was wrong of me to suggest it. You can go away now."

"Thanks and I'm sorry for yelling at you too," Scorpius told him sincerely.

"Shouldn't apologize for you how you feel. Now go away, I'm tired."

"I brought you some dinner," Scorpius offered and Varanian flicked him a tired look with icy blue eyes before sighing again and struggling to sit up, pain contorting his face but he did sit up and take the plate, "I'm going back to Hogwarts tomorrow... do you think you'll be alright?"

"How long did I sleep?" Varanian wondered in surprise but spoke again before Scorpius could answer, "and I'll be fine, I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself. You can go now."

"Okay," Scorpius nodded and reluctantly left.


	59. II: Ups and Downs

_**Author's Note:** Firstly thank you so much to Aya Diefair for reviewing! Okay so next chapter is the last chapter before the finale events begin, depending on the length of it the ball may even start rolling at the end of the chapter so yay! I promise updates are still daily, I plan the finale events before I start the book so finally getting to it is really exciting and my mind likes to skip ahead so I've had trouble focusing these last two which is why its taken so long, daily updates still on though and should get this finished before my birthday even. Also random question, people have guessed at Scorpius' Patronus before, anyone have any idea for any of his friends? _

* * *

Scorpius did try to get away to see Varanian one last time before they went but he didn't manage it with his family trying to squeeze in as much time with him before they left for the platform, even his grandmother was coming with him to see him off. He didn't mind, it was better than just being alone with his parents and he was looking forward to going back to Hogwarts now he wasn't afraid of Michael losing his memory so much. He started looking around for his friends when he got there but was surprised to spot Calderon there, leaning against the wall by himself dressed in only his muggle attire and the silver dragon necklace that Scorpius had gotten him the previous year.

"Calderon!" Scorpius exclaimed happily rushing over to hug him.

"Hey Scor," Calderon offered as Scorpius pulled away, "could you possibly yell my name louder next time? Trying to be inconspicuous here or people will be asking me stuff."

"Sorry, although people can see you," Scorpius muttered glancing around but it was so busy that no one seemed to have noticed, "what are you doing here, anyway?"

"Making sure the train journey back to Hogwarts goes alright, the Ministry finally relented and let me kick the Aurors so... safety's solely on me."

"You got rid of the Aurors?" Scorpius wondered hopefully and couldn't help but smile even before Calderon nodded, holding up his hand and little light stick people started walking grumpily away from the little light castle.

"When they start killing or nearly killing people, they become more of a hindrance than a help but the Ministry like to seem like they're doing something, the Ministry is an idiot."

"I think the Ministry is a bunch of people not just one person."

"Yes but individually they're alright, as a group they're an idiot."

"I... okay," Scorpius gave up, there was no getting past Calderon logic sometimes.

"Scorpius! There you are, don't wander off," his grandmother called out as she came over to them, lights immediately flashed around Calderon as she flicked her gaze to him, "and who are you?"

"Err... M-Marius. Calderon. Marius Calderon, yes," Calderon stammered for a moment and the lights flashed around him, "that's my who I am. Nice to... um... pleasure to... err... glad I could erm... hello and good after-morning-noon Mrs Malfoy."

"Ah you're Calderon, Scorpius has told us so much about you!" his grandmother offered brightly and even granted him a slight smile as she held out her hand for him to shake, Calderon looked at it like it was poisoned or some kind of trick for a moment before taking her hand, "its an honor to finally meet you... Or have we met before by any chance? Don't take this the wrong way but you remind me of someone but I can't place who."

"No we haven't met... I just have one of those faces that looks like everyone else. I don't... I don't know you. I mean I've heard of you. A lot about you but I've never seen you before in my life. Ever. Not once. Until now. I've... I've met you now. Just like now but I meant before that, you probably know what I meant. I just erm... " Calderon babbled unusually awkwardly and Scorpius was reminded of the memorial last year when he'd had a similar reaction to Andromeda, it was odd although a much darker thought struck him, Calderon had known his grandfather because he'd tortured him as a child, surely his grandmother wouldn't have done that as well? "my condolences on your husband, Mrs Malfoy."

"Thank you."

"Well its a pleasure to meet you but I really must go and check on the train, farewell. See you later, Scor," Calderon announced before hurrying away and darting into the train.

"Well you were right about his... oddness and magic, I've never seen anything..." his grandmother said to him before frowning then shaking her head, "he looks so familiar."

"He gets that a lot," Scorpius shrugged it off and made a mental note to ask him about it, "come on, let's find Mother and Father."

Scorpius only found his parents to say goodbye, no longer interested in finding his friends when Calderon was there, he hardly ever saw the former assistant whereas he saw his friends everyday. He went straight to the staff compartment where he'd first met Calderon, sure enough he was there looking thoughtful and avoiding the window although he looked at him when he came in instead.

"Can I join you?" Scorpius asked politely.

"If you wish," Calderon pointed out with a grin as he gestured to the seat opposite, "I will have to leave periodically to check the train though."

"Fair enough."

"Wizard Chess?"

"Definitely!" Scorpius agreed enthusiastically as he sat down.

A few games in and Scorpius noticed two things, the first was that he had improved, the second was that he'd forgotten how skilled Calderon was at chess. In fact, after being obliterated the first few times, Scorpius wasn't sure whether he was getting better at defending himself from Calderon's tactics or whether Calderon was simply manipulating the game to let him think he was having more of a chance so he wouldn't feel so bad at losing. Not that he felt bad, he was just glad to get to spend some time with Calderon again even if he stayed true to his word about leaving to check the train every so often. They talked as they played too, Calderon asked him about his electives although he already knew Scorpius' choices from going through the forms over Easter to start planning out the schedules.

"What would you have picked?" Scorpius asked curiously after Calderon checkmated him once more, "for electives, you know if you'd went to Hogwarts."

"Care of Magical Creatures definitely, creatures are cool and Study of Ancient Runes is pretty interesting so that," Calderon answered thoughtfully, "maybe Muggle Studies because its good to know about how the others live but I always liked the mathematical aspect of Arithmancy so I'd pick that then again I suppose it depends on how much I would know at this point, at thirteen I didn't really know anything about the subjects so I'd probably just pick the first two."

"What about Divination?"

"No. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate the subject and I don't believe its as crazy as people say but I just don't want to know the future, never have. I'd rather not know then risk seeing its something bad."

"I never thought of that," Scorpius admitted, recalling Molly's ability and feeling bad for her for not having a choice, he'd been meaning to ask her if she'd liked her gift. It reminded him that there was something he was also meaning to ask Calderon, "Calderon... you know how... you know how my grandfather tortured you?"

"Yes," Calderon said slowly, pausing slightly in setting up the board again and lights flickered around him for a moment.

"Did my... I mean my grandmother... did..."

"She never tortured me," Calderon answered, thankfully catching on and Scorpius felt a bubble of relief.

"You did know her though, didn't you?"

"Yeah. She didn't like me very much. Probably a good thing she doesn't remember me."

"Well she thought you looked familiar."

"Trust me, Scor, if she remembered me she wouldn't need to see me to know who I was, hearing of my magic would have been enough."

"I wonder why she forgot then," Scorpius wondered thoughtfully but Calderon only shrugged.

Scorpius was in a good mood from talking to Calderon when he got off the train, he'd almost forgotten how much he liked his company. He was looking for his friends as they headed to the carriages, he caught sight of Molly getting into a carriage with Latimer, Caitlin, Freddie from the team, hearing her talking about Quidditch before she noticed him and waved him over. All she did was offer her hand to him to get into the carriage, he took it before his mind could remember he was trying to find the others and apologize for not sitting with them.

It was too late then though, not that he could mind spending time with Molly. She was wearing the charm bracelet with the new addition on it although she didn't stop to detract from Quidditch talk, it was just over a month until their last match and there was a lot riding on it. After Ravenclaw's slaughter of Slytherin and Gryffindors annihilation of Hufflepuff - even though James hadn't caught the Snitch - it meant the next game was basically Hufflepuff and Slytherin fighting for third place - unless either scored a positively miraculous number of points - meaning their match against Ravenclaw was essentially for the Quidditch Cup. There was a lot riding on the game for Molly, not only was it her first year as Captain but she was the youngest Captain for a long time, she had a lot to prove and as the sister of a squib people were expecting nothing from her anyway. Scorpius was determined to win it for her.

"And thanks for the charm by the way, Scor," Molly offered with a smile that made his heart skip another beat as they left the carriages and headed inside, "its really starting to look charmy! Wait is that a word?"

"It is now," Scorpius laughed as they continued in and joined his friends at the Gryffindor table, "sorry for not sitting with you on train, got caught up with Calderon and then Molly invited me to sit in her carriage too, I didn't even see you guys."

"Its okay," Michael brushed it off with a shrug.

And Scorpius had to do a double take on Michael. He was so used to seeing the grotesque eye with the scar that looked like it was watching you that he'd zoned out from it but now Michael's eye was different, the scar above, below and on his eyelid remained but the eye itself was different. The eye was normal looking in shape, he had a circular iris and pupil once more although the color was wrong. The pupil was navy rather than black, the iris was a deep shade of blue and almost seemed to be revolving and the white of his eye was actually blue-ish, a dark cyan. His eye was also bruised.

"Its a prosthetic," Michael explained, probably noticing him looking, "its blue right now but it adapts to you, in time it should change to be the same color as my real eye."

"Cool," Scorpius grinned, his day was just getting better and better although Michael didn't return his smile, "what's with the bruise?"

"Its from the process of getting rid of my old eye and getting a prosthetic."

"Are you sure?" Molly asked curiously.

"Of course I'm sure," Michael said quickly giving Molly an odd look.

Scorpius was still in good spirits through dinner, catching up with his friends and no longer under the eyes of the Aurors, Scorpius felt safer in Hogwarts at that moment than he ever had during both years combined. He was so happy he could've skipped to bed.  
"You're in a good mood," Albus commented as they got into bed, "guess Molly told you then."

"And you're unusually grumpy," Scorpius offered, "wait, what about Molly?"

"Well I have to share a room with Vern with now on and he's living with us plus I spent the week grounded so I couldn't practice for the Quidditch tryouts."

"A Dursley coming to live with Potters after his parents were killed? Irony much?" Scorpius pointed out in morbid amusement, "and they'll be plenty of time to practice over the summer. So what about Molly?"

"She broke up with Nick."

"She did?!" Scorpius burst out delightedly, so much so that Reuben startled awake for a moment before going back to sleep, Albus laughed.

"Yep!"

"Could this day any better?" Scorpius sighed happily lying back down in bed and resisting the urge to wonder whether he was a bad person for being glad they broke up.

"If Crystal broke up with her boyfriend too?"

"Albus!" Michael snapped from his bed to which Albus chuckled again.

"I was joking!" Albus called back before adding quieter, "sort of."

* * *

Brutus sat by her bedside like he did every day, he couldn't spend the whole day with her but he always managed at least an hour. It felt wrong to just leave her like that although a part of him preferred being away, he hated seeing her so lifeless and silent, it wasn't like Sal at all and he continually checked just to reassure himself she was still breathing. He knew she was still alive, reaching out mentally but he still liked to be there with her in person, hold her hand so tight and will her to wake up miraculously. He knew she wouldn't but still.

The guilt gnawed away at him a little more everyday, he was supposed to protect her and he had failed. Completely and utterly failed. It was his fault it had gone wrong in the first place, he should never have told Lucius how to throw off the control or maybe he just hadn't been clear enough that doing that would result in the Specter taking his soul immediately as it was trained to do. And because of that Lucius had lost his soul and Sal was trapped in a coma she might possibly never wake up from, he did actually feel guilt for both but Sal was the priority of his concern at that moment.

They were fairly certain now what needed to be done to revive Sal, the issue was getting Scorpius and Tommy away from the safety of Hogwarts and to them to get co-operation. Brutus had zoned out of the debating, people often assumed he was stupid and underestimate him and usually he tended to agree with them but he had been thinking about this a lot. He knew a way to lure the pair away, give anyone a finite time limit and they'd act rashly especially if a life hung in the balance. He alone happened to know the people he'd need for his plan personally - with the exception of Scorpius but he was pretty sure he knew enough about him for his plan, he was sure he could manipulate them all into a positive outcome. The downside was that it put Atticus at risk, he hadn't lost his desire to protect his family any and his brother would suffer either way.

But he also hadn't lost his desire to protect Sal and she was family too now, sacrifice was necessary sometimes and he was confident he could keep his brother alive while still saving Sal, that was what mattered. He hoped Atticus would understand in time, he _would_ understand. He would. Looking down at Sal, Brutus knew had no other choice, a sacrifice to save her life was more than worth it, he had to save her, he _had_ to. His plan was the only one that would save her.

"I love you, Sal," Brutus whispered gently and leaned over to kiss her forehead tenderly as he squeezed her hand one final time before letting go and moving away, "I promise I'll get you out of this."

He wiped the wetness from his face, he could hardly go out and face the others with tears on his cheeks before taking a deep breath, his resolve hardened as he left Sal to rejoin the others. There was Rabastan of course, the only one who'd been loyal to Sal longer than he had who was just standing back shaking his head, their somewhat spy leader Celestine was arguing down some idiotic idea that the brute Selwyn had had in favor of an equally idiotic idea, the man who hated his brother for disfiguring him - Seraph - chimed in with occasional bursts of sarcasm to mock them both while the fifth and only woman in the room just sat watching them fight with one of her cold smiles. Alexis Azubah Loren wasn't usually privy to the higher up meetings but since leaving she had needed to stay with them to keep away from the general public, she had shortish light brown hair with a slight wave to it and oceanic colored eyes.

"Enough," Brutus growled and those speaking stopped to look at him, only Rabastan had noticed him entering prior to that and Brutus had a better relationship with him than the others anyway, the other three men's lips pursed in dislike and disgust while Alexis' expression became a mask of neutrality, "this has gone on long enough."

"Really?" Alexis quipped sarcastically, "and here I thought the plan was to incessantly argue enough to annoy the master enough to wake up to wring our necks."

"Oh shut up, Knox," Brutus snapped to piss her off and it worked, anger cracked the neutral expression as she sat stiffly up.

"You _know_ I didn't take that muggle's name when I married him."

"I know, I just want you to shut the hell up and listen me," Brutus complained before smirking, he couldn't show them his reservations or they'd tear him apart like a pack of wild hyenas, "I have a plan that will actually work, so listen up because this is what we're doing..."

* * *

Scorpius was glad to be back, despite the increased workload in preparation for exams, Molly was piling on the Quidditch practices which meant more time with her and in the air. He thought Varanian was alright too, Scorpius 'ringed' him to ask him how he was daily and every time he replied 'fine'. While it wasn't as detailed as Scorpius hoped, at least it meant he was alive and health enough to reply. April was over before he knew it and May began, thankfully without a memorial massacre like the previous year.

The only thing really bothering him - aside from the Shadow professor fears hanging over his head - was Michael, maybe it was Scorpius' imagination but he seemed distant and quieter, he looked exhausted. Scorpius kept expecting him to ask about the whole situation with Varanian, he wasn't sure how to bring it up himself or what to say but Michael didn't. Scorpius was actually starting to worry that Varanian had somehow managed to erase Michael's memory despite his injuries, they were walking to Quidditch practice alone together at the start of the second week back with a rather noticeable lack of conversation and Scorpius finally decided to just look the dragon in the eye already and bring it up.

"So... You remember about Varanian over Easter, right?" Scorpius offered trying to sound casual.

"Of course, just because I don't say anything doesn't mean I forget," Michael pointed out sounding almost offended that Scorpius could think that, "how could I forget something like that?"

"Sorry, I just wondered since you haven't said anything about it."

"Neither have you and you told me not to."

"I didn't mean me."

"Sorry, usually you do so there's no point asking."

"I only keep things from you or the others if its your best interests," Scorpius protested, "I've been waiting for you to bring it up so I could explain."

"Look, Scorpius," Michael began seriously stopping and turning to face, "I believe you completely about what happened last year with Varanian and the Blood Runes but that doesn't mean I trust him. Maybe you know things I don't - you probably do - and have reasons for trusting him but I don't, I saved the life of the man who spent last year torturing my best friends, erasing their memories, trying to turn everyone in the school into Spectral puppets, being involved with this mega evil group, nearly killing people and torturing me. I don't like him or trust him right and I might have just saved the life of someone evil that you could be in danger from and its eating me up inside."

"I... I had no idea you felt like that," Scorpius admitted quietly, in fact it had never even crossed his mind, "look, I promise Varanian's not bad and I only don't say things because its better that way, the more people know the more risk Varanian's in and the more risk they'll tell someone. Not that I think you'd tell someone, its more of an Albus thing."

"Its okay, I get it, there's things I don't tell you either."

"But Varanian's okay really, we're against the Shadows and he's fighting them. I can't say too much without going into detail but trust me."

"That's your idea of an explanation?" Michael wondered before sighing, "alright Scorpius, I trust you. But I still don't trust him."

"Okay then."

Scorpius wasn't sure if that had helped any, Michael was particularly good at hiding that it was bothering him if at all, he thought things improved but he thought Michael still looked tired a lot like he hadn't been sleeping. Then again, there was a match coming up and Michael was more stressed about exams than the others as well, including Rose who had them pouring over books to study and revise what they'd learned for tests still a month away just about. Scorpius and Abby were indifferent, they accepted the studying but were confident enough that they knew enough to pass to not get overly anxious about it, especially not when it was a month away. Albus however just didn't seem to care and was forever earning a whack to the head with a book from his cousin for trying to draw them away from their focus of topic.

"I'm just going to the restroom, I'll be back," Rose announced the Sunday at the end of the first week back, she eyed them as she stood as if expecting them to bolt the instant she moved.

"Hey, I know what we could talk about that's always fun, who is Michael's cr-" Albus started to say as Rose went to stand, whatever Albus was going to say was abruptly cut off as his body jolted like he'd had a hiccup, Rose cast him a scowl as she left, "why the bloody hell did you kick me?!"

"You can't talk about my crush in front of Rose!" Michael hissed looking panicked as his face went scarlet.

"Why not?"

"Because... Because isn't it obvious?! Its your cousin, okay, just stop asking me about it, my crush is your cousin and I just didn't want to say in case it was weird and you laughed at me but just don't say anything to her, _please!_"

"Wait, which cousin?"

"Which one do you think!?" Michael burst out looking exasperated although Scorpius exchanged a puzzled look with Abby, did Michael mean who they thought he meant?

"Erm... Vic?"

"No."

"Dom?"

"No."

"Please don't tell me you like Molly too!?"

"No!"

"Roxy?"

"No!"

"Err... Lucy?"

"NO! Its Rose!"

"Quiet over there," the librarian complained.

"She back already?" Albus wondered looking around, Michael looked like he wanted to bang his head against the table.

"No, Rose my crush," Michael pointed out quietly and Scorpius couldn't help it, apparently neither could Abby or Albus because they all burst out laughing, "why are you laughing?!"

"Because... Because... Rose! Of all people! Are you sure you don't mean a different Rose?"

"No. I like her, okay? I really like her. I have for a long time."

"But its _Rose_," Scorpius couldn't help but add as he tried to calm down to spare Michael's feelings, "she's great as a friend and all but... c'mon, Rose?!"

"She's so... Rose," Abby concluded lamely still laughing along with Albus, Scorpius couldn't resist the urge to join in again, it just seemed to strange and random for Michael to like Rose when she could be so abrasive.

"It doesn't matter anyway," Michael muttered miserably as Rose came back into sight, "and please don't tell her."

"Why are you laughing?" Rose demanded sitting back down, "you're supposed to be studying."

"Because... Because the healer's name is Marigold!" Albus lied and laughed even harder, he genuinely did find the name amusing while Rose shook her head disapprovingly.

"Well if you don't shut up then we'll get kicked out so hush, unless you want to fail your exams and get expelled."

"You don't get expelled for failing exams, you just have to repeat the year," Abby pointed out as she sobered along with Scorpius, still trying to figure out the appeal of Rose as a girlfriend.

They didn't mention it again all week except to apologize to Michael for laughing, at least it shut Albus up pestering Michael for his mystery crush's identity and gave Albus a good comeback when he asked Michael questions about Crystal - why shouldn't he like Michael's mother when Michael liked his cousin? Although Scorpius was on Michael's side with this - as well as when Albus took great delight in telling Vern, Corin, Orous and Maurice. Corin also laughed while the two Hufflepuffs were more dignified, Maurice simply pointed out once more how stupid crushes and relationships were. Rose remained blissfully ignorant.

The Hufflepuff versus Slytherin game was as expected, simply a battle for third place as neither came close to scoring near enough goals. Slytherin won in the end, it was essentially a tie before Kyle Nott caught the Snitch seeming to have overcome his fear of the pitch turning to ice and killing people enough to not do utterly terribly like he had before. Scorpius had been cheering for Hufflepuff for Orous and Vern, he was disappointed Hufflepuff lost although he expected as much with their terrible Seeker - he still didn't know how James could've lost to her - even though he hated Kyle for picking on Molly when he first met her, he was more talented as a Seeker but definitely not as a person.


	60. II: Victory

_**Thanks to: **Lucifersdaughter and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Out of curiosity on the subject of crushes now you know Michael's, does anyone want Michael to get together with Rose or Scorpius to get together with Molly? Because from what I gather the most popular Scorpius pairings are with Rose or Lily and obviously my Scorpius likes Molly_

_**Questions:**_

_**Does Maurice like Rose? Even unconsciously?  
**Unconsciously yes, consciously no**  
**_

_**Is there any more flashbacks of Sal and Brutus?  
**Not this book, its nearly over and I always planned for that to be the last flashback of his book. In future books maybe I might do more of them though_

* * *

Scorpius found the anxiety was catching after the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin match, it marked two weeks until the final game and it was only another week after that until exams. Every day only lessened the gap and Molly had them practicing every day, battling with the Ravenclaw captain for custody of the pitch who also wanted to train daily leading up to the match, studying and homework on top of that was also smothering him, he stayed up late every day until Friday with Michael to get it done. Although some professors were nicer than others, Professors Ashain and Longbottom both gave him and Michael extra time for assignments because of the practices.

He was dreading Friday though despite the fact it was his favorite two subjects, the Patronus lesson always left him feeling drained - although he was proud to say he was improving, he could make a large window when he tried - and he didn't need to feel drained when he had Quidditch practice after and needed to study. He was seriously tempted to not even bother trying and Michael seemed to be in the same frame of thought because his attempts were more futile than usual, Professor Ashain seemed to pick up on it.

"Come on, you two, the Quidditch match isn't until next week," Professor Ashain complained, "you're not even trying."

"What's the point? I'm going to fail anyway," Michael pointed out glumly.

"Well you are with that attitude, if you're thinking that you're going to fail then you're not concentrating fully on your memory and projecting the Patronus," the professor explained and Michael actually looked like something had clicked in his mind.

"Okay that makes sense, I think I can," Michael muttered thoughtfully before taking a breath and as he flicked his wand again, "_Expecto Patronum!_"

Usually when everyone in the class said the by that point, it caused a silver window to appear, of varying size and opacity and in Michael's case it was usually a thready weak one. But not that time, a spectacular shimmering shield of silver spread out from around him, most of the class stopped to look in surprise and amazement.

"Well done, Michael!" Professor Ashain exclaimed happily, "twenty points for Gryffindor, that's a incorporeal Patronus everyone."

"No wait I think I can do more,_ Expecto Patronum!_" Michael said again, brandishing his wand once more and the silver shield blazed brighter and spread but Michael looked steadfastly determined, "_Expecto Patronum! Expecto Patronum! EXPECTO PATRONUM!"_

Every time Michael said it the shield grew, increasing to also enclose those around him in a protective bubble but at the last Michael stood and yelled it fiercely but the sound of the spell was lost in a roar. That time the shield didn't increase, the silver light seemed to implode in on itself and morphed into an animal that leaped from Michael's wand and clean over the desk in front.

Michael's Patronus was a lion, a great and rather large lion. It stood at the front of the class, shaking its magnificent mane of silver tendrils as it pawed the ground and glanced over them, its tail moving as it remained in place. It gave one last roar as it faded away, the class erupted into applause at one of them in Second Year casting a Patronus, as far as Scorpius knew he was the first to have done it in their year. Michael just smiled sheepishly.

Word actually spread shockingly quickly and after changing into their Quidditch robes for practice, were frequently stopped by random strangers to ask if it was true or congratulate Michael on casting the Patronus - or in Maurice's case, demand to know how he did it. Considering the reaction, Scorpius was pretty sure that Michael was the first in Second Year and youngest in the school to cast a Patronus. Scorpius was impressed and hopeful, if Michael - who wasn't particularly skilled at spellwork - could do it then surely he could.

"Heard you cast a Patronus, Michael," Latimer offered with a rare grin as he joined them heading out to the pitch.

"Yeah I did," Michael admitted, "why does everyone know?"

"You're the first Second Year in the school to do it, no First Years have yet either. A few of the Third Years can, about half us Fourth Years can, most of Fifth and all or nearly all of Sixth. Its impressive, what animal was it?"

"A lion."

"Very Gryffindor, I'm a mink."

"Can Molly do it?" Scorpius asked curiously.

"Yeah, she's some kind of owl and Nick's a snake," Latimer told him brightly as they arrived at the pitch where the others already were.

"Congratulations on getting a Patronus!" Freddie congratulated Michael immediately, clapping on the shoulder.

"Thanks. Does _everyone_ know?" Michael offered in reply.

"Welcome to the club! Mine's a hyena and Caitlin's got a lynx, Louis has got a doneky or something."

"Its a stallion," Louis protested brushing back his blond hair from his eyes and looking offended, "not a donkey."

"It doesn't matter whose Patronus is what when we're on this pitch," Molly interrupted sounding very Captain-like, "now everyone get up in the air, we only have a week and a day until the final match until Calderon gives out the Cup and if you want it to be us then we need to practice."

"Wait, will Calderon be at the match?" Scorpius wondered hopefully.

"Yep, he has to be to hand out the Cup. So move it everyone!"

Scorpius felt more determined as the week wore on, he didn't want Calderon to see him lose and he didn't want to let Molly down by losing - like James had - so he had to win. No pressure. The week managed to go by both too quickly and not quick enough for Scorpius' liking, he wanted the match to just be over with already but then also wanted it to not happen yet in case he failed. He was also more than a little disappointed at failing to cast a Patronus again, Michael cast his lion effortlessly every time but Scorpius got nothing as did everyone else in the class. And then it was just one more practice, bed and the final dawned.

"I'm so excited!" Albus announced cheerfully as he headed down to breakfast with Scorpius and Michael, who looked ready to throw up again, "I can't wait for the match, its going to be epic."

"Please stop talking about the match," Michael mumbled quietly as the sat down and buried his face in his hands.

"How can you possibly be nervous after last game? That was tres merveilleux!" Corin announced enthusiastically.

"Yeah, you'll do fine," Rose agreed patting his arm, "also if you could absolute slaughter Ravenclaw then that'd be great because I'd really like to rub Copper's nose in it."

"We'll do our best," Scorpius promised putting some food onto his plate while Michael remained with his head in his hands.

"Quidditch is stupid," Maurice commented plainly.

"C'mon, you should eat something," Albus pointed out.

"I can't even look at food right now," Michael offered violently shoving his plate away and going back to holding his head in his hands.

"And _please_ can you use my broom, its the last game and maybe your last chance to use it before the year's up, I could make the team next year after all. I want Gryffindor to win and I want you to do well and I want you to use my broom. Won't having an extra edge cheer you up?"

"If I use your broom can you stop talking about Quidditch and food?"

"Food yes, Quidditch no."

"Fine," Michael sighed while Albus fist-pumped the air.

Molly came to get them to take them to the locker rooms soon after. Michael looked like he had no color left in his face, Latimer looked extremely focused, Freddie was talking to his little sister about strategy while Caitlin sat humming to herself, Molly was pacing. Scorpius felt unusually at ease noticing that James wasn't there, he'd been banned from the last game for attacking Maurice after all. Molly finally cleared her throat.

"Alright then team, I really suck at these motivational speeches so I'll keep it short," Molly began, "I know at the start of the year people didn't have high hopes for us, people barely showed up for tryouts which means I have all the more faith in you, look at our record. In the first game, despite the crazy horrible shit that happened, we won. In the second game, despite not having our Seeker or catching the Snitch, we won. You may look at it as severely bad luck but I see it as us beating the odds again and again, if we can overcome all that then we can overcome Ravenclaw today easily. We can do it, I have faith in every one of you and I know we can do this so let's go for it! Let's go out there and show them what we're made of! Show then that against the odds we can win one more time! Time for lions to take the skies!"

The team cheered before preparing to head out, he heard the Ravenclaw team called first and thunderous applause they got before Gryffindor were called out. They also received cheers although maybe less than Ravenclaw but Scorpius found he didn't care, the people he cared about were rooting for him, even Calderon, it didn't matter what anyone else thought. He was winning this for Molly and nothing was going to get in his way. The Captain was a tall dark-skinned boy who played Beater, his expression was neutral as he shook Molly's hand and they got up into the air. Scorpius faced the Ravenclaw Seeker, he didn't know the boy's name but he had very neat brown hair and sharp blue eyes, the boy surprisingly smiled at him.

"I've been looking forward you to playing you, Scorpius Malfoy," the Ravenclaw Seeker offered, "may the best Seeker win."

"May the best Seeker win," Scorpius echoed nodding.

Eben threw the Quaffle up into the cloudy and the match began. Latimer was the first one to it, he passed it to Michael who weaved through the players still scrambling for position and scored before the Keeper managed to get to the hoop, he had to narrowly avoid crashing into it but the goal stood.

Scorpius was rather impressed with his team, the hours of practice seemed to be paying off. Michael was exceptionally fast - even more so than usual on Albus' _Cloudcutter_ - and Latimer was also skilled, Caitlin was probably the weakest of the three but regardless they worked in perfect harmony to get the Quaffle up the field and score. Roxy may not be as strong as James but she made up for it in skill - and not frequently trying to hit members of her own team - and worked much more in unison with her brother, they worked as a team rather than more solo the way Freddie and James did. Molly of course was amazing as ever.

However Ravenclaw were good too, they were very in sync with each other and the Chasers and Beaters worked well united to score, making it seem confusing who was going to score in what post and deliberately keeping Molly away - or trying to - when their teammates were trying to score. Their tactic had a downside though, it did leave the field open if Gryffindor could get the Quaffle back and also meant there was no one to keep an eye on the Seekers. As bad luck would have it, the Snitch was being elusive as after fifteen minutes in they'd only spotted once and lost it with the commotion of the other players in the way, Scorpius had also faked seeing it once to draw the Beaters away to allow Molly to score. The Ravenclaw Seeker - whose name was Pentakel as Scorpius learned from the commentary - was sharp eyed, he'd spotted it only the second after that Scorpius had and had realized Scorpius was feigning and called off the Beaters, too late to stop Molly blocking and getting the Quaffle back to Gryffindor hands but it proved his observation to realize that.

The next time they spied it was the final time and they saw it in unison, from opposite sides of the pitch and urged their brooms to speed after the glint of gold. Hurtling closer and closer, it was quite high up and Scorpius had the advantage of being higher than Pentakel, the Ravenclaw had to move towards it and rise. However as they neared it, the Snitch abruptly dropped and pelted downwards at a complete vertical angle. Scorpius felt a flicker of fear as he jolted downwards, not Pentakel had the advantage and despite a faster broom, the Ravenclaw was closer and Scorpius couldn't lose, he couldn't let Molly down. But how could he move faster?!

The thought that struck him was an odd one but he acted before fully thinking it though, it would either work spectacularly or fail epically. Pentakel was reaching for it and Scorpius jumped from his broom, letting go on the secure grip needed for such a steep drop and allowing gravity to propel him downwards. He plucked the Snitch from Pentakel's waiting hands and hugged the tiny golden ball to his body as he reached out with his legs to twist them around the tip of the broom and drag it close enough to grab once more and pull it up just before he could collide with the ground, grazing over the grass.

Scorpius landed and held up the Snitch for all to see, the applause that time was definitely loud. The rest of the team were coming over to join him, grins splitting faces as they cheered themselves, clapping him on the back or hugging him. It took Scorpius a moment to register that it wasn't just a game he'd won for Molly, he'd just won his entire house the Quidditch Cup. The Ravenclaw team landed too, trudging back to the locker rooms in defeat although Pentakel hung back for a moment to speak to him.

"You're completely mad, y'know with that move," Pentakel pointed out and for a second Scorpius thought he was going to be mad but instead he simply offered out his hand to shake, "but congratulations, good game."

"Thanks," Scorpius accepted his hand and Pentakel smirked good-naturedly.

"Just don't get too comfortable with that trophy because I am winning it back next year."

"Good luck with that," Scorpius grinned as Pentakel, "you're welcome to try."

"I look forward to it," Pentakel told him as he headed back with the rest of the team.

It was only then that Scorpius noticed Calderon was walking onto the pitch to award Gryffindor the Quidditch Cup, he clapped his hands and the trophy appeared in a flurry of lights to hover in the air. Calderon took it and offered it to Molly, she couldn't stop smiling as she grasped it carefully as if afraid it might

"And the winners of the Hogwarts Quidditch Cup of 2018-2019 are Gryffindor!" Calderon announced so loudly his voice seemed to magically carry once more as Molly raised it triumphantly into the air, it was a good thing Calderon had magically enhanced his voice because the noise from the crowd just blurred into one loud deafening indistinguishable mass of sound but he could still hear Calderon only this time he was speaking to him alone and he smiled, "well done Scor, scary but well done."

"Come here, Scor, help me with this," Molly added still unable to stop smiling and Scorpius obliged as she lowered the glittering golden cup to shove one handle towards him, he reluctantly took it with his free hand as she thrust it into the air again with him holding on, the crowd reignited in their fervor as Gryffindor - and those who'd taken Gryffindor's side after realizing their house had lost - cheered their lungs out, the Ravenclaws - and those who'd taken Ravenclaw's side after realizing their house had lost - seemed to be filing out already so only the cheering remained. Despite disliking the attention, Scorpius smiled at a much needed win.

The atmosphere in Gryffindor changed noticeably after that, Scorpius had people he never talked to congratulating him and shaking his hand as did Michael, Reuben and Angelo from their dormitory seemed to make more of an effort to make idle conversation with him. They were winners to Gryffindor - they truly were a fickle house - and everything else seemed forgotten, it didn't matter Latimer was weird with questionable hygiene and pockmarks, it didn't matter Michael had a still weird-looking blue prosthetic eye and scar across his face, didn't matter Caitlin had stuck by her boyfriend despite his squib cousin, it didn't even matter that there was a squib in the family and she was Molly's sister anymore, they didn't even care that Scorpius was a Malfoy who should never have been in the house in the first place and Michael had stuck by him.

None of it mattered to Gryffindor in the face of victory. With the exception of Maurice - who still thought Quidditch was stupid - along with James and his friends, James cast them more loathing looks than usual, Scorpius would've thought he'd be pleased of Gryffindor's win but no, apparently not being able to win and soak in the glory or the fact Scorpius had caught the Snitch or... whatever his hang-ups were stopped him from enjoying it. Molly was no longer shunned by her former friends but she sat with Scorpius and his friends a meals more.

"Not sitting with your friends?" Albus commented on this on Monday at breakfast.

"Friends?" Molly wondered with a slight laugh, Scorpius loved her laugh so much, "they ditched me as soon as they found out my sister was a squib, when the school was shunning me they turned their backs with them and now I'm Captain of the winning Quidditch team they suddenly like me again? They're not my friends, were they ever really? I don't want to hang out with people who turn on me when they need me most."

"Fair enough, although they're passing some laws according to dad to improve squib rights so maybe people won't be such dickholes from now on."

"What did Uncle Percy say?" Rose asked curiously, "when you told him you won?"

"Well firstly he apologized for accidentally sending me a letter to offer his condolences on my losing in my first year as Captain and urged me to consider quitting next year to focus on my OWLs, great how much faith he had in me," Molly explained with sarcasm evident in the last sentence, "then congratulated me on being the youngest winning Captain in recent Hogwarts memory, he doesn't want me to quit anymore but does remind me that Quidditch Captains can still be Prefects and Head Girls. Gotta love his priorities."

"Well he should be proud, you did brilliantly and we couldn't have won without you, Molly," Scorpius spoke up and she surprisingly blushed.

"Thanks but really it was the team."

Despite the victory that Scorpius was delighted over it, be barely had time to relax about it for the rest of the week. As the last week before exams and without the excuse of Quidditch practice, the teachers buried them in work and lectures about the importance of them as all exams had been cancelled last year in light of the attack - OWL and NEWT students had had to come in over the summer to do them. Scorpius personally thought he'd do a lot better without the stress and copious amounts of studying to wear his mind out, he wasn't stupid although Michael was incredibly anxious.

Scorpius was disappointed to once again fail at casting a Patronus on the Friday when Michael's lion still roamed the room, he tried so hard but all he could get was an average sized window. He tried so hard it left him even more exhausted than usual and he didn't wake up until late on the Saturday, didn't even have time to breathe before being plunged into more studying which was much like Sunday minus the late start. It was only on Sunday at dinner that he realized what day it was, the day before the exams yes but was also reminded of what had happened last year at that time. Saturday had been June 5th, both his father's birthday and when the Shadow attack had begun and his grandfather had lost his soul while Sunday was June 6th, both Calderon's birthday and the day of their victory and the day he'd killed Marvin. Time flew.

He also was wracked with guilt over forgetting about Calderon's birthday, he'd have to make it up to him next year. They took to bed early to get a good night's sleep before the exams - although from Michael's tossing and turning, he wasn't doing much sleeping - but Scorpius found himself pulled into sleep shockingly quickly. He smiled to himself, glad to be able to get some rest and hoping Michael could do the same.

* * *

Cassia Ashain couldn't sleep. She was sleepy but she couldn't drift off, she was cold and no matter what way she wrapped herself up in the extra blankets her mummy had given her, she was still cold. She didn't know why it was so cold, it was supposed to be summer but she was cold and so was Tony so she wasn't making it up even though her mummy said it wasn't cold. It was a cold house not like Hogwarts, Hogwarts wasn't cold but they weren't allowed to stay over the night there with her daddy. She wished they were, she missed seeing her daddy everyday. She knew where the Portkey was but that was for with grown-ups watching only or if there was an emergency, missing your daddy didn't count as an emergency nor did being cold.

She was distracted from the cold by noise, heard the unmistakable ding of the doorbell. She excitedly got up and raced to the top of the stairs, nearly running into Tony who seemed to have the same idea that it might be their daddy. They perched at the top and peered through the wooden bars in the bannister, you didn't get a view of the door but you would when they came further into the house which they needed to do to get to the front room or the kitchen or the garden. You could also hear voices.

"The cure is ready now," a woman's voice that wasn't her mummy was saying and Cassia was filled with dread, there was only one cure she could be talking about that her mummy would care about when it was dark outside and past bedtime.

"Really?" her mummy's voice replied as the two speakers came into view along with the feet of two others behind them, her mummy and another woman with shortish light brown hair with a slight wave to it and oceanic eyes, she smiled a cold smile that made Cassia shiver.

"Yes, Skye, we did say we'd contact you immediately when it was ready," the woman continued, "we actually finished the cure awhile ago but due to the young age of your children, we wished to test it first to ensure it was safe. It is and has had a hundred percent success rate."

"Well that's wonderful although is there any chance you could come back tomorrow? I put them to bed not too long ago."

"No," a man's voice added, "something urgent has come up and we're leaving tomorrow, won't be back for months. The sooner we cure them, the less damage magic can do to them."

"Al-Alright," their mummy agreed, "I'll get them."

"We're already here!" Tony announced cheerfully and obediently, taking Cassia's hand to pull her with him downstairs before she could think of what to do.

Usually their mummy would tell them off for doing that but she didn't that time, probably just happy they could do it faster. Cassia recognized the men as the people who'd came before, Roland and Riddle she thought their names were, Riddle was the one who'd said she had her daddy's eyes, he looked sad. She didn't like any of them, magic wasn't a disease and they were liars even if her mummy said it was a bad word. She wished Tony wasn't holding her hand so she could run away and hide, she didn't want to lose her magic. She was scared.

"Good, we can begin, my name's Alexis," the woman introduced herself sweetly, "we're going to make you all better. Who should we do first?"

"Erm... Cassia," her mummy said with a smile that just made Cassia even more scared, her mummy _knew_ she didn't want to lose her magic, surely she wouldn't let the liars take it away.

"Okay," Roland agreed with a smile that actually looked evil and made Cassia really want her daddy, did liars trying to take your magic count as an emergency? He moved over to her just as Tony let go, she tried to run immediately but Roland grabbed her, "no, no, don't you want to get better?"

"NO!" Cassia yelled, tears erupting from her eyes as he picked her up to stop her running and carrying her into the front room, "NO! I DON'T WANNA LOSE MY MAGIC! MUMMY DON'T LET THEM! MUMMY! NO! NO! HELP! HELP!"

"Do you have to be so rough?!" her mummy demanded but didn't try to stop them, Cassia kept sobbing, why wasn't she stopping them?! "calm down, Cassie, they're making you better."

"It won't take a minute," Riddle promised, "she needs to stop struggling."

"NO! NO! HELP! NO! MUMMY! I DON'T WANT TO BE BETTER!" Cassia screamed kicking and struggling and hitting Roland's arms even though fighting was bad, she'd rather be in trouble than lose her magic, she was so desperate she fought with all her strength but Roland was so strong, "HELP ME! HELP ME! MUMMY! HELP! HELP! NO! HELP ME! TONY RUN! GET DADDY! GET HELP!"

"She needs to lie down and be still if Rabastan's to do this."

"Cassie, calm down," her mummy offered gently but Cassia didn't listen, she just cried harder and clawed at Roland's hands, he was holding her so tight it hurt now, "you're being ridiculous, these people are nice. Maybe if you let her down she'd calm down a bit first."

"I'll do it," Tony offered so abruptly that Cassia was stunned into silence, he smiled at their mummy, "when I do it and its not so bad then Cassie will see its okay and then daddy and then we'll all be happy and safe and not dead like you want, Mummy."

"That's my little angel," her mummy said kissing him gently on the top of his head while he went over to the couch and lay down. Roland didn't put Cassia down though.

"TONY! DON'T DO IT!" Cassia called to him desperately feeling very afraid for him all of a sudden, was she the only one who could see this was wrong? "please Tony, run while you can and get help!"

"Would you shut up," Roland growled in her ear as he put a hand over her mouth.

"Please don't do that," her mummy told him looking finally worried.

"When she calms down."

"Alright," Alexis nodded and smiled coldly at Riddle, "tell Rabastan to go for it. She won't take a second, Skye, assuming you're up for this."

Riddle didn't say anything but he squeezed his eyes shut and after a moment mouthed something that looked like 'forgive me'. It seemed colder in the room as a shadow stretched out from the darkness and... and stood up, the shadow stood up like a person only without a features and just pitch black holes where its eyes would be if it was a person. And it was standing over her brother. Cassia screamed in fear for him and bit Roland's hand even though biting was also bad, he grunted but didn't move his hand. And then the shadow-person stepped into her brother, he shivered and then his eyes were pitch black.

"What-"

"This is part of the process," Alexis interrupted before her mummy could ask the question.

Tony screamed, a horrible ear-splitting scream and he screamed again and again. He wouldn't stop screaming and his small body was jerking violently, convulsing and contorting at unusual positions. Their mummy started shrieking for them to stop, she tried to run to him but Alexis flicked her wand and their mummy was knocked to the ground. Riddle was the only one who wasn't staring, looking away instead. Her brother screamed and seized, Cassia had never been so horrified or terrified in her life and she'd give anything to help him.

His body arched for one final time and then it was over, he slumped weakly and silently back onto the couch like all the strength had been sucked from him, the shadow sidled away from him. A beautiful ball of light floated up from his body and Riddle stepped forward, flicking a wand to put it into a little glass box that he pocketed in a leather pouch around his hip. Roland finally moved his hand away from her mouth but she was too shocked to speak as her eyes drifted fearfully back to her brother, he wasn't smiling anymore, he looked too devoid of hope to ever smile again and tears were flooding from his eyes silently as she stared up at the ceiling with his pale blues eyes as normal again.

"What did you do to him!?" her mummy demanded as was finally allowed to run to Tony, he glanced at her but said nothing nor moved beyond that as she hugged him to her, he didn't respond or hug back or move at all, "Tony?! Are you alright?"

"Did exactly what you wanted," Riddle spat angrily, "that light was the magic from his soul. Magic isn't a disease though, you people are, its a part of our souls and to remove it is to rip out a piece of you soul. He'll die now, you murdered your own son, you stupid psycho bitch. Tell Atty he'll never save his son. Only Orous Knox knows where we keep the magic and he'd never say."

"You-You lied to me."

"Muggles are so slow, the little girl's probably more up to speed than this one," Alexis commented with a roll of her eyes and Roland abruptly dropped her, Cassia hit the ground painfully and resisted the urge to cry while Riddle shot the other man a glare.

"We should do her too, get both Ashain's children just for good measure," Roland offered sounding actually happy.

Cassia didn't wait to hear a reply though. She ran. She didn't wait to see if they were following her either. She just ran. Raced up the stairs faster than she ever had before, she had to get her daddy, he'd know what to do. She saw the battered-looking Portkey on top of the side table and jumped, she could just about reach it if she jumped. Sure enough she felt like was being dragged from something crazy and then she was thudding to the ground again, this time back in the safety and warmth of her daddy's office at Hogwarts. She looked up fearfully and saw him sitting at his desk with a load of papers, he glanced up in surprise and she ran to him in tears as he got up to move over to her. Babbling out the events of the past few minutes as fast as they'd leave her lips.


	61. II: The Calling

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1, Lucfiersdaughter and Aya Diefair for reviewing!**  
**_

_**Author's Note:** I wasn't going to change their crushes randomly and I can't say who'll they date (if at all) in the future, was just curious on your thoughts before the third book. Also finale events are here_

* * *

_"Come to me. NOW."_

Michael didn't know how everyone could fall asleep so quickly with the exams tomorrow but they did, he was scared out of his mind of failing and getting kicked out of Hogwarts. And on top of everything else, he had another headache and the pain had taken that moment to flare up. He started recounting facts for the exams to try to distract himself and because he needed to know it.

He only stopped when he heard sounds, at first he thought it was Scorpius sleepwalking again but it sounded like he was getting dressed. Michael scowled, where would he be going? It was after curfew for second years even if it wasn't even ten yet. Confused he pulled back the drapes and saw Scorpius was just finishing tying his laces, his eyes were closed as he stood and picked up his wand.

"Scorpius, what are you doing?" Michael asked anxiously, he didn't want Scorpius to get in trouble for being out so late. Scorpius didn't reply and Michael wondered if actually he'd been right the first time, was it possible to sleep-get-dressed? Or was he just ignoring him because he didn't want to tell him anything as usual? "Scorpius?"

"Its calling," Scorpius whispered monotonously, his eyes opened a crack but they didn't look focused.

"Its after curfew, just go back to bed and worry about... whatever that is tomorrow."

"Its calling," Scorpius repeated and started to walk towards the door.

Michael was extremely torn, on one hand he didn't want to get in trouble and Scorpius might have a good reason for what he was doing but just didn't bother telling him, maybe he was sneaking out to meet Varanian? But on the other hand, Michael had a feeling that that definitely wasn't normal and he didn't want Scorpius to get in trouble, he couldn't just let him walk out like that.

He sighed heavily and got out of bed quickly, pulling on sneakers and a sweater over his pajama top for warmth, grabbing his wand finally before rushing after Scorpius. He almost ran into Maurice as he left the dormitory, he opened his mouth to apologize but Maurice hadn't put his hand on his translator necklace or even appeared to acknowledge him as he carried on walking. In fact he was walking just like Scorpius had been, fully dressed with his wand in his hand and his eyes half-open but unfocused like he wasn't really seeing. Something definitely seemed weird.

Michael said he had to jog to keep up with the younger boy, he grabbed his shoulder carefully and shook him gently to try snap him out of it. It seemed to work as Maurice stopped trying to walk, his eyes snapped fully open and looked alert before confusion broke his usually neutral expression. He frowned and put a hand on his translator necklace.

"What's happening?" Maurice asked, "why am I out here?"

"I don't know, you were just walking and so is Scorpius..." Michael started to explain before recalling Scorpius and hurrying after him, Maurice followed and they got downstairs just in time to see Scorpius stepping out the portrait hole, "Scorpius, wait!"

There were a few students in the Common Room, probably trying to get in as much studying as possible, who gave them some odd looks but none of them spoke or went to see why they were leaving after curfew. Scorpius was still walking though as they followed him out, he didn't stop or seem to care that Michael had called after him. Michael and Maurice still had to jog to catch up with him.

"Where are you going?" Maurice questioned, keeping a hand on his translator necklace although walking and talking was awkward for him.

"Its calling," Scorpius said for the third time without stopping.

"So ignore it, you have to snap out of it or you'll get in trouble for being out," Michael protested.

"Its calling."

"Yeah, I got that," Michael muttered and went to grab Scorpius' shoulder to snap him out of it like he had with Maurice but Scorpius' eyes didn't snap open, he simply jerked his shoulder free and continued walking.

"Its calling."

"We should follow him," Maurice announced as Scorpius started headed down the Grand Staircase, he stopped Michael to speak to him, "see where this calling is making him go and tried to make me go, its probably not a good thing so we should find out what it is and stop it so it can't call us again."

"I don't know, I think its better we just try get him to snap out of it," Michael pointed out before spotting a figure coming up the Grand Staircase, too small to be an adult but the white of his hair gave him away even from a distance, "or maybe we should see why Orous is also here."

Maurice nodded in agreement and they had to run to catch back up to Scorpius, they and Orous reached the third floor at the same time. Like Scorpius, he was fully dressed and walking with his wand in his hand although his eyes were open and seemed more focused, maybe he was fighting the calling more than Scorpius? Orous and Scorpius turned in perfect unison down the third floor corridor, Maurice and Michael just followed their friends as they walked to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom and continued on up the stairs to where Ashain's private office and sleeping quarters were.

"I said I don't know, Atty!" a woman's voice yelled, she sounded upset, "they didn't say anything else, they just vanished when Cassia started running."

It dawned on Michael that he was the only one of the four who could actually hear the woman, he'd thought if it was Ashain then maybe he could help or know what was going on but he certainly didn't want to disturb the professor if he had company. She'd spoken too late though and even as Michael jogged the few steps to catch up to Orous and Scorpius to try get them back, they reached the open door.

"Well fine, we just need to get him to the hospital wing and see what Marigold says," Ashain replied as the pair stopped before the door, Michael nearly ran into them while Maurice was safely slightly behind. There was a woman in the room with the professor, holding a little boy and a little girl sitting at Ashain's desk. Ashain saw them and opened his mouth to speak, probably to ask why they were there and Michael opened his mouth to apologize profusely but Orous spoke first.

* * *

Scorpius woke up to find himself not comfortable in bed in pajamas on the morning of exam week but standing up in the doorway of Professor Ashain's office, fully dressed with wand in hand and feeling completely bewildered as to how he got that way. Professor Ashain's wife and children were there too, as was Michael, Maurice and Orous, Scorpius both hoped and thought he was dreaming for a minute at the strangeness of it all.

"Its too late for the hospital wing," Orous announced grimly, speaking at a louder - more normal - volume than usual and Scorpius noticed Professor Ashain's son wasn't looking so good, "the only way he won't die is if his soul is repaired, his magic put back. Healers can do nothing."

"How-How do you know that, Orous?"

"That's what they did to me," Orous said quietly again, "it takes half an hour at most before they die, how long has it been for him?"

"A couple of minutes... Are you Orous Knox?" Skye spoke up as she hugged the near lifeless boy closer, Orous nodded, "they mentioned you, said you know where they take magic."

"Yes, I know."

"Why are you four even here?" Professor Ashain wondered trying to sound calm but Scorpius could see the panic in his eyes.

"They sleepwalked or something, we were seeing where they went," Maurice answered, Scorpius could swear he was trying not to look excited, "I think there's more pressing concerns though considering the time constraints. Where do they take the magic, Orous?"

"It doesn't matter," Orous whispered sadly, "he's better off dead."

"No he's not!" Skye shrieked desperately, "he's just a little boy, he has his whole life ahead of him."

"Well it still doesn't matter. Even if I told you then you'd never be able to get his magic, the enchantments on the place is designed to keep away people who've never been there before. You'd have next to no chance of finding it then even less chance of getting out and even if you miraculously managed that then it then it definitely wouldn't be in time to save him."

"You know the way though?" Professor Ashain prompted and Orous nodded again, "if I brought you there then you could lead me to this place and out in time to save him?"

"Yes. But I don't want to go back there."

"Why?!" Skye demanded angrily, "you have to! He'll die otherwise!"

"I'm scared."

"I'll keep you safe," Professor Ashain promised but Orous only bit his lip fearfully.

"You have to be brave, Orous," Scorpius offered gently putting his hand on the albino's shoulder, Orous flicked his crimson eyes to Scorpius, he thought he could relate after going to face Linden to save Lysander but still, he didn't want anything to happen to the son of someone he cared about, "I know its hard to face things like this but its to save Professor Ashain's son's life, he'll die if you don't do this."

"Would you come with me then, Scorpius?" Orous asked in a whisper.

"Sure," Scorpius agreed hesitantly, feeling more anxious about heading into some Shadow area that could be dangerous but what choice did he have? If he refused then Orous would refuse and Professor Ashain's son would die, he couldn't let his favorite professor down especially not after he'd almost died to save his life before and they really didn't have time to dawdle.

"Excellent," Maurice announced cheerfully and seemed unusually animated, "let's steal us back some magic."

"No you can't go, this isn't a picnic we're going to," Professor Ashain complained, "its a potentially dangerous situation the less people go the better."

"What is going on, Ticcy?" Calderon wondered curiously and Scorpius jumped, he'd been so focused on the conversation unfolding he hadn't noticed the former assistant coming up behind them with his dog, it licked Orous' hand and he petted the large hound gently.

"Did you sleepwalk here too?"

"No, I notice if Portkeys are used within the school remember? So... what's up?"

"Short version is Professor Ashain's son had the magic ripped out of his soul and he's going to die in half an hour - or more like twenty-ish minutes - unless we get it back to save him, Orous knows where they'd have taken it because it happened to him and he's going to lead the way so we're going to go get the magic back and save the boy," Maurice explained for Calderon.

"I wanna come," the little girl - Cassia, if Scorpius remembered correctly - spoke up, "I wanna help."

"No one is going but Scorpius, Orous and me," Professor Ashain pointed out.

"You're not taking two random students to a random place to chase random people who steal magic," Calderon stated shaking his head, "that's too dangerous."

"There's no time to waste waiting for Aurors, Calderon! If I don't go now then my son will die!"

"Okay," Calderon said quietly as the seriousness of the situation was pressed upon them, "but I'm coming too, I'll lower the anti-apparation wards. Why does Scor have to go though?"

"Moral support for Orous."

"Do you have a map of England?" Orous asked and Calderon gestured, one appeared and floated onto the professor's desk, Orous strode over it along with the two men as he pointed out the location to them, "Pandoran Hills."

"Am I the only one who has a bad feeling about this?" Michael muttered while Scorpius was filled another burst of dread, wasn't that the place where Varanian had thought the Shadow base was and had nearly died there? It clicked in his mind that Varanian said something similar to Orous about enchantments making it difficult as well. They still didn't have a choice though, he cared about Professor Ashain and wasn't going to let his son die if he could help it, besides they'd be a lot with safer with Calderon.

"Am I the only one that thinks its stupid we don't get to go?" Maurice grumbled.

"You're not staying for no reason," Calderon pointed out as they stepped back from the map, "if we're not back in half an hour then you two need to contact the Ministry and tell them what happened and we went. Password to my office is 'dragons'. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Maurice and Michael said in unison.

"Alright, let's go then."

"Come on, Scorpius," Orous whispered offering out his hand, Scorpius crossed the distance and took it before he felt Calderon's hand on his shoulder.

Scorpius felt himself being apparated a moment later, the not exactly pleasant sensation of being forced through a tube overcame him and then they were somewhere else. It was twilight, the sky was painted navy and only a few stars dared peek their heads out. They were looking at an old manor house, not nearly as grand or large as his family's home but it had a similar look of faded elegance, there was lights from some of the windows but he didn't see anyone.

"You people really suck at hiding," a familiar voice complained, Professor Ashain fired a nonverbal spell at the speaker while they were still turning their heads, Varanian ducked it effortlessly and held up his hands - although he had a wand in one of them - as a sign of peace, "I'm on your side."

"What are you doing here, Varanian?" Professor Ashain questioned as he reluctantly lowered his wand, Scorpius was glad that Varanian seemed in much better health at least.

"What am _I_ doing here? What are _you_ four doing here?" Varanian countered irritably.

"We don't have time for this, I have to save my son."

"Specters ripped the magic out of his soul," Scorpius offered in explanation for Varanian, "need to get back or he dies."

"Well you're in luck," Varanian told them and gestured to the manor, "the guards I've spend weeks spying on and mapping out movements randomly decided to take off about fifteen minutes ago. The grounds are completely clear, I was just about to go in and check it out."

"Either come with us and help or stay the hell out of our way," Professor Ashain growled and started walking towards the building, they all followed.

"What is this place?" Calderon asked of Varanian as they walked.

"Its some kind of base of operations for the Shadows or was, their numbers of security seem to have been steadily decreasing the last month, I suspect they're moving to a new location. They're holding Lorcan Scamander here but there's some enchantments that make you disorientated when you get in and I haven't found a way to get past them yet to save him."

"That's why Orous is here," Scorpius pointed out as they reached a side entrance.

Orous strode to the front and opened it without waiting for any sign or for someone to check it out, apparently the Shadows didn't lock their doors. He went in with Professor Ashain whose wand was firmly in his hand and his eyes darting around, Scorpius followed behind them with Calderon and Varanian bringing up the rear. He felt Orous take his hand but that was all he was sure of.

He understood immediately why Varanian had had such a hard time in the place before, why Orous had claimed it was hopeless for Professor Ashain to do it alone and what the enchantments meant. Everything was moving, the wood-paneled walls were waving and twirling, spiraling into peculiar patterns and Scorpius wasn't sure where the walls ended and the ceiling began. Then there was the floor, the ground seemed to be rippling and moving beneath him, he felt as if he was walking around the back of a dragon as it was moving and trying to throw him off. If Orous hadn't taken his hand he was sure he'd actually have been knocked down, he clung to him like a life line and was led blindly into more swirling morphing hallways. He was so dizzy.

He heard a noise behind him that sounded like someone crying out but when he looked back he was met by the same impossibly swirling hallway behind him, he wasn't sure if that meant they were no longer following or simply he couldn't see them anymore with the bizarre disorientation. Although he could still see Orous who miraculously seemed to be walking without nearly falling or staggering like he and Professor Ashain were, Orous didn't seem to have noticed the sound but the professor must have because he too looked back.

"I'm not sure that Calderon and Varanian are behind us anymore," Scorpius pointed out.

"I don't know, everything's so weird," Professor Ashain offered, "Calderon?"

"We're nearly there," Orous whispered continuing to lead them forwards or upwards or downwards, Scorpius couldn't make heads or tails of the direction, in fact a part he could've just been standing in the same place stumbling the entire time and it wouldn't surprise him.

Scorpius wasn't sure how long they walked for, each step felt like a mammoth task but in reality it was probably only a couple of minutes before Orous brought them to a halt and let go of his hand. He didn't see any magic balls of light, just more shifting... everything. Then he noticed a figure stepping out from seemingly nowhere, he was a bulky, broad-shouldered, muscular man with a nightmare of a face. His eyes were too far apart and one was actually higher than the other, his bulbous nose was very crooked as was his overly wide mouth that curled part up the right side of his face. On top of that his ears were also too big and stuck out, even his fingers all seemed the wrong lengths and at different angles... all _six_ of his fingers.

"I think I'm seeing things," Professor Ashain commented staring at the man with a sad expression while Scorpius raised his wand, the six-fingered man had his in his hand but made no move to attack.

"No, I see him too," Scorpius offered.

"I'm really here, Atty," the man confirmed in his gruff voice, his mouth distorted into what Scorpius thought might've been an attempt at some kind of a smile.

"Brutus, you're alive?" Professor Ashain wondered quietly and the deformed six-fingered man nodded.

He thought the professor would raised his wand at that point, prepared to defend himself from the Shadow man as people weren't effected by the distortion but he didn't. He did the last thing that Scorpius would have thought he'd do in that situation, a smile split his face and seemed to forget that they were in a dangerous situation with his son's life on the line as he embraced Brutus, whose eyes bulged in the surprise that Scorpius felt. The same shade as the professor and his father, he realized abruptly, and actually the man's hair was also the same extremely dark shade of auburn as the professor and Aurelius as well, it was even combed back in a similar fashion to Professor Ashain... Hadn't the brother the professor had killed been called Brutus? Brutus returned the embrace for just a moment before pushing the professor away.

"I'm sorry for nearly killing you," Professor Ashain apologized immediately, still somehow oblivious to the fact his brother was a Shadow now, "I didn't mean-"

"I know," Brutus interrupted him, "I forgave you a long time ago and... I'm sorry too."

"How did you survive? Wait, it can wait, I have a son and these people took his magic and he's going to die unless..."

"Unless you get the magic back," Brutus finished the sentence for him and the professor finally seemed to realize who his brother was, "I know that too."

"You're one of them," Professor Ashain realized aloud.

"Yes," Brutus admitted readily and raised his wand, "since you asked how I survived, the Shadow Master saved my life and I've been with them ever since. Believe me when I say that I'm sorry for this."

"_Expelliarmus!_" Scorpius cried immediately but his aim was completely off.

"Yeah, good luck with that," Brutus muttered and raised his free hand, Scorpius and Professor Ashain's wands both were yanked from their hands by an invisible force and hovered over to his waiting hand, "what? Did you really think after spending so much time with the Shadow Master that I'd know nothing of wandless magic? You were right, Atty, I can be smart when I put my mind to something."

"Please don't do this," Professor Ashain pleaded.

"Too late," a newcomer's voice laughed.

Scorpius spun to look at the speaker only to find he fell completely onto the ground, he did notice a white wall being drawn around them, Professor Ashain tried to move and managed to stagger slightly closer to him before also losing his balance while the man completed the rectangular around them. Scorpius recognized it as the magic that possessed-Varanian had used to trap Calderon, magic couldn't get past the walls. The newcomer was also a hideous sight, half of his face was a mangled burned mess that must've continued down his body because an equally mangled burned arm hung uselessly at his side.

"Seraph?" Professor Ashain questioned cautiously.

"Surprised you recognize me," Seraph sneered, "considering how I didn't look like this last time we met, since you did this to me."

"Well next time don't booby trap your base with things that explode," Professor Ashain offered which caused Seraph to glare between him and Brutus for some reason.

"Typical arrogant asshole Auror."

The professor tried to stand but once again toppled because of the moving floor, it wasn't so bad staying still but trying to walk or move was extremely difficult without Orous. Orous. It was at that moment that Scorpius realized Orous wasn't trapped like they were, he felt a bubble of relief for a moment as he thought that Orous had managed to get away, maybe to find Calderon and Varanian but it burst when he noticed Orous on the outside of the wall standing beside Brutus, crying silently.

"I'll be back," Brutus growled to Seraph before vanishing into the Shadows and leaving them trapped.


	62. II: Pandoran Hills

_**Thanks to:** Aya Diefair, Winged-panther1 and draconissparks for reviewing!_

* * *

Varanian had a bad feeling about the Shadows suddenly picking up and leaving and the feeling only got worse after coming across the four, he could get why Ashain, Marius and... Knox were there but would have felt a lot better if Scorpius was back in the relative safety of Hogwarts. He still went along with them though, if they wouldn't go back then he'd rather be there, something could be said of safety in numbers. They used a different backdoor than the one he'd used before although Knox went in without caution, Ashain didn't seem to have a problem with this but then he certainly wouldn't be thinking straight.

It was the same as last time he'd been in there, everything was moving and shifting dizzily, it was difficult to keep balanced but as he'd realized last time if you went slowly and carefully it was easier. Easier but still not good, he was more able to go cautiously in the absence of people trying to kill him, it seemed as oddly deserted inside as out. That didn't stop him from keeping the wand in his hand though and scanning every inch of the morphing building for signs of Shadows. He and Marius were a bit behind the other three and he was a bit behind Marius, he started to ask Marius to slow down when the floor gave way.

In fact it just seemed to vanish and Varanian found himself falling, he tried to grab onto the floor but his hands grabbed only empty air as he felt himself plummeting into pitch black darkness. He wasn't entirely unconvinced it wasn't an illusion but he hurriedly cast a spell to slow his momentum anyway, just in time before he hit hard solid ground. He grounded in pain at the collision but his spell had spared him the damage of falling from the original height, he still wasn't completely healed from his last excursion there but he was basically alright. He sat up and glanced around but the darkness was all engulfing, there wasn't so much as a pinprick of light above him to indicate where he'd fallen from.

"_Lumos_," Varanian muttered and his wand lit up the darkness somewhat, from what he gathered he was in some kind of dungeon place with dark stone walls and floors.

"Who's there?" a child's voice asked and Varanian jerked his wand in the direction of the speaker.

Varanian had to get up and move a few steps closer before he could make out the boy. He had the same dirty blond hair as his brother although his seemed slightly longer and was matted with grime, he also seemed thinner, his amber glinted sharply in the darkness despite bearing rings of tiredness. His face was was brushed was dirt as were his clothes, he was sitting in the corner with his chains binding his wrists and ankles. He'd found Lysander's identical twin, Lorcan Scamander.

* * *

Calderon didn't like it. He didn't like what had happened to Ticcy's son. He didn't like that his sister, Shadows - he refused to call them Specters, they were Shadows of Dementors - or her people were responsible. He didn't like how little time they had. He didn't like how he'd stupidly left Hogwarts unprotected. He didn't like how people he was supposed to protect were now at risk. He didn't like how he didn't well. And he _really_ didn't like how everything was shifting, he already felt rather unwell and it was making him feel worse. He thought he might be able to break the enchantment but he just as equally thought things might just explode instead, he could risk injuring people who weren't him and damaging Ticcy's son's magic. Especially feeling ill, it made it harder to focus. It wasn't the greatest way to turn thirty-seven.

He heard Pippy say his name and turned back to him in time to see the ground swallowing him up, he ran to help without hesitation. Or at least tries, the rug decided to do a somersault and he managed to trip backwards. He yelped in surprise as the entire floor seemed to slope suddenly, he was sliding then tumbling and tumbling until he felt himself collide with a wall and then the ground no longer seemed at an impossibly steep incline although it continued to wave like the ocean. And he could no longer see the others in front of him or in any direction from him actually, Pippy he could understand as the ground had ate him but Ticcy and the kids were also gone, hadn't they been effected by the sloping floor too? Calderon really didn't like it. Being separated was very bad. He tried to stand, the moving wall seemed determined to repel him.

He heard someone snap their fingers and the room immediately stopped shifting, the wood-paneled walls were solid and still as was the ceiling and the floorboards. He turned to look at the one who'd caused it and saw Rabastan was standing there, time had been good to him even though his hair was now iron gray, he looked healthier than Calderon had ever seen him as a child. Rabastan had always been good to them but 'them' was the operative word, he was good to Sal too and he was on her side at that point in time. Then again he had just spared him the shifting, although he was also holding a shiny blade, either a short sword or a long dagger.

"Better, Tommy?" Rabastan offered with a kind smile.

"Yes, thank you," Calderon said gratefully but cautiously, "don't suppose you've seen magic belonging to a little boy hanging around and would willingly give it to me and help me and the others get out of here quickly?"

"Things aren't that simple, my boy."

"I figured. What's with the knife?"

"This? Its a blood sword, it absorb the blood of the person it stabs in the handle," Rabastan explained and gestured to the glass-looking grip, "we can do this the easy way or the hard way."

"You actually expect me to just stand here and let you kill me?" Calderon wondered in surprise, he wasn't _completely_ insane, "I don't want to kill you but I will stop you if you attack me."

"I don't want to kill you, Tommy, just stab you to get some blood. Scorpius was the one who activated the Blood Runes that last time but it was mostly your blood in the Obelisk, we need your blood as well as him to help Sal. You want to help your sister, don't you? Your one and only sister, your twin sister, your only family."

"I don't want to help Sal with her destruction-domination-death-whatever plans as I've said. Several times."

"Its your destiny."

"I don't believe in destiny," Calderon snapped firmly and Rabastan simply inclined his head.

"Very well, the hard way it is. For now," Rabastan pointed out before coming at him stupidly with the sword, Calderon simply raised his hand and effortless magically pushed him back a few feet.

"I got a lot better at controlling my magic now."

"Oh I know, we got a lot better at controlling Sal's Specters too."

Calderon opened his mouth to ask what he meant before Rabastan lunged at him again, he threw him back more forcefully this time. Rabastan smashed into a side table and Calderon cringed, Rabastan moaned in pain and Calderon guiltily went over to help him up. Rabastan took his hand and smiled kindly once more, he no longer had the sword. He no longer had the sword.

He gasped at the sharp pain that shot through his gut as he felt the blade run through him, although it felt more like it was made of molten rock, it felt like it was burning. He fell weakly back against whoever had just stabbed him, glancing down at the now-crimson blade in time to see it twist sending a fresh wave of searing pain through him. It hurt to breathe against the pain, magical lights flashed uselessly around him but he was afraid to push his attacker away because he'd fall.

"Don't worry, we'll heal you up in a minute," Brutus Ashain's voice said into his ear, "its not my intention to kill you, Tommy, just to save her and you won't feel ill anymore either then."

Calderon would've replied if he could, asked what in the world he was talking about, the only thing Sal needed saving from was herself as far as he knew. His mouth too busy trying to breathe too deeply to lessen the hurt to comprehend forming words though. He felt a hand go to his head and a slight sting as a few hairs were ripped out, he didn't have time to wonder why before the bloody blade was abruptly jerked out and he cried out in pain while he fell to the ground.

* * *

"Any ideas how to get out of this?" Scorpius whispered to Professor Ashain after trying the Portkey ring but it had no effect.

"No talking until Brutus gets back!" Seraph snapped.

"Is that really what you do all day?" Professor Ashain wondered with a mocking smirk, Scorpius wondered if there was a reason for messing with the angry guy or the professor was just losing it from stress, "you went from trying to band together former Death Eaters to start a revolt to babysitting while you wait on instructions?"

"I shut up!" Seraph yelled glaring at the professor with a look of loathing.

"I'm sorry I don't take orders from lackeys."

"I'm not a lackey!"

"Could've fooled me, ugly."

"Just wait till I'm done with you, Ashain," Seraph spat angrily, "you'll look worse than your bastard brother, you won't even look human. By the time I'm done with you, you'll beg for death and maybe I'll be merciful enough to-"

"Ah generic empty threats," Professor Ashain commented and laughed, "and _more_ waiting for instructions. Did I fry half your brain too? That why you're now a mindless lackey?"

"I do a lot."

"Of course, babysitting and waiting is difficult work."

"I said shut the fuck up!"

"Make me," Professor Ashain shot back, "oh wait, you can't because you need permission."

"_Crucio!_" Seraph screamed as he waved his wand, a jet of light shot out towards the professor but he leaped to one side and the spell struck the back misty white wall that crackled.

"I'm twelve and I have a better aim than you," Scorpius mocked, assuming that was Professor Ashain's plan.

"I have first years that could aim better than him," Professor Ashain agreed and Seraph fired another jet of light at the professor who again leaped out of the way, "no wonder they only let you babysit and wait, you can't hit prisoners trapped in a box."

"Fuck you, Ashain!" Seraph raged and went to aim his wand again.

"I think he's trying to make you mad," Orous pointed out quietly as he tried to wipe his tear-stained face while seemed to calm Seraph a bit as he rationally reasoned it was true, this time it was Seraph's turn to smirk with morphed the mangled side of his face hideously, "just leave them alone."

"Fair point, I can take satisfaction that you're sitting here taunting me while your filthy half-blood son dies an agonizingly painful drawn-out death," Seraph said with his one eye glinting cruelly, Professor Ashain said nothing, "what no comeback? You know the brat volunteered, pretty much in line with Ashain intelligence. Was going to do the girl before then, she's pretty feisty and now she gets to watch her brother die then you can watch her die so its more than fair."

"Leave my kids alone!" Professor Ashain snapped darkly.

"Or what? You'll stupidly run into a trap... again?"

* * *

"You're Lorcan Scamander, aren't you?" Varanian questioned even though he already knew the answer.

"Yes. You're Varanian, aren't you?" Lorcan wondered in reply and Varanian paused in going to magically remove the chains in surprise.

"Yes. How'd you know that?"

"I saw you at the memorial when everyone was attacked although you had different hair."

"Yeah, I'm metamorphmagi. Can change my appearance."

Varanian flicked his wand at the chains binding the boy's ankles and wrists, they broke obediently and clunked to the ground, revealing an identical wrist scar to Scorpius. Lorcan rubbed his wrists were he'd been bound and Varanian offered him a hand to help him up, Lorcan flinched away fearfully so he retracted his hand and Lorcan got to his feet unaided.

"I don't like to be touched," Lorcan offered quietly as an explanation.

"Neither do I," Varanian shrugged it off but the boy's eyes shot back to him immediately, "so I'm going to look for a way to get back up there."

"I didn't realize there was one."

"Then how did you get down here?"

"Specter transporting, I thought they were just leaving me down here to die. How did you get down here?"

"I... fell. The floor just gave way and apparently sealed itself."

"That's a strange way of rescuing someone."

"It wasn't exactly my plan," Varanian protested defensively.

"Then what was your plan?" Lorcan wondered.

"People showed up and ruined my plan," Varanian grumbled and sighed rubbing his stinging side, "anyway the mark of a great tactician is not the ability to make plans but to be able to deal and make no ones when things go wrong, my new plan is to look around down here for a passageway or a staircase or something to get out."

"Can I help?" Lorcan asked cautiously when Varanian went to move away, "I don't want to be useless and helpless forever."

"Alright," Varanian agreed, liking the boy's attitude and took out one of the spare wands he'd taken to carrying and handed it to him, "the incantation to light up the wand is _Lumos_, the movement is like this -" he briefly paused to show it carefully to Lorcan who watched intently, "- did you get that?"

"I've never done a spell before, I don't have a wand and I've never been to Hogwarts."

"Have to start somewhere," Varanian shrugged, "if you can get it then go around the opposite direction to me, hug the wall and look for doorways or archways, windows, openings, I'm not picky. Holler if you find anything."

Varanian walked off to leave him to it and because time was off the essence, he started at a random section of the wall and moved left, tapping it and using a nonverbal spell to check for whether the wall was hollow as well as he went. He could hear Lorcan trying the spell a few times before hearing an excited gasp.

"I did it, Varanian! I cast a real spell!" Lorcan exclaimed delightedly.

"Well done," Varanian praised him without stopping or even glancing back, he did notice a new light on the peripheral of his vision though and heard Lorcan's footsteps going around. He reached the end of the wall and found it came to another wall, this one though was hollow, "Lorcan! Think I found a way out."

He heard Lorcan coming over and wasted no time in cast a spell to blast the wall outwards, just as Lorcan appeared beside him with the wand aglow. They peered into the hole that Varanian had just created, it was some kind of passageway but it was better than being stuck in a dungeon. He headed into it and gestured for the boy to follow, he hoped the others were having as much luck as he was.

* * *

"I'll kill you," Professor Ashain promised.

Seraph didn't look threatened by this, he didn't even lose his smile but the conversation ended when Brutus reappeared in a swirl of shadows once more although Seraph kept his wand pointed at them. Scorpius was sure there was a red stain on the front of his robes that hadn't been there before, in fact there was blood - very literally - on Brutus' misshapen six-fingered hands. He glanced briefly at them before turning to Seraph, neither Shadow seemed concerned for Orous just standing there. But then Orous made no move to do anything despite having a wand.

"Did you get Tommy's blood?" Seraph asked of Brutus.

"Yes, Tommy or Calderon or whatever he prefers to call himself didn't stand a chance," Brutus confirmed and Scorpius felt a stab of panic.

"What did you do to him!?" Scorpius demanded furiously.

"All we wanted was to lure him away to take his blood, we don't need the rest of you anymore."

"I still get my revenge though, right?" Seraph wondered losing his smile finally.

Brutus looked at Seraph although Scorpius really couldn't understand any expression on his deformed face, Brutus said nothing though before glancing back at his brother. Without warning Brutus raised his wand and shot a nonverbal spell at Seraph, he tried too late to move his wand to defend himself and Brutus' spell struck him, flinging him... Scorpius wasn't sure the distance with the morphing walls but he'd guess across the room.

Brutus turned back to them and snapped his fingers, immediately the room stopped shifting and solidified into a rather elegant, large, wood-paneled room. He reached into a leather pouch at his waist and pulled out a glass box with a beautiful glowing ball of light inside before waving his wand, the magical walls boxing them in vanished in an instant.

"There's not much time, Atty," Brutus said coming over to them as they got to their feet, he offered the glass box to the professor who looked at it as if it may be poisoned for a moment before taking it ever so carefully. Brutus waved his wand again before handing his brother back his wand, "I just lowered the anti-apparation wards, get that back to your son. Just open the lid of the box and levitate the magic back into him, it'll just pass through him and his soul will try to repair itself automatically."

"Brutus, I-"

"There's no time," Brutus interrupted in a growl and Professor Ashain just looked him, Scorpius wasn't entirely sure he trusted the Shadow who had Calderon's blood on his hands although he was helping and he had saved Scorpius. Maybe Scorpius had been looking at it wrong, maybe Brutus had saved him when he wasn't supposed to? "we can sit and chat or you can save your son, take your pick."

"What about Calderon?" Professor Ashain asked before Scorpius could.

"What about him?"

"He's-He's my friend and its my fault he's here, I can't just leave him," Professor Ashain pointed out and Brutus looked at him with an expression that might've been surprise.

"I'll see what I can do," Brutus said finally, "but you have to go now."

"I'll be back straight after," Professor Ashain promised as he pocketed the glass box with the magic, "thank you."

"You're still my brother, Atty."

Professor Ashain took Scorpius and Orous' hands to apparate them, Scorpius opened his mouth to protest that he didn't have his wand and he wasn't leaving without Calderon and Varanian. Just as the professor went to apparate though, Brutus grabbed Scorpius and yanked him back and Orous must have pulled away by himself because Professor Ashain alone vanished with a slight pop, Brutus hurriedly waved his wand again.

"I didn't think he'd leave without you two," Brutus told Scorpius and started to walk away, "if you want Calderon to live then come with me."

* * *

Calderon lay on his side on the ground gasping in agony, he felt so weak and shaky as Rabastan knelt down beside him. Rabastan rolled him onto his back, Calderon cried out at the pain moving caused again and nearly tried to magically throw him away again but if Rabastan was trying to help him then he'd need to see the wound and if he wasn't then Calderon would probably die anyway because he couldn't heal himself. He moaned in pain, lying on his side hurt almost bearably less then lying on the wound.

Rabastan took out his wand and waved it over Calderon, he heard a tearing sound and felt rather than saw his sweater splitting in half down the center of his chest. He supposed Rabastan was getting a better look at the wound, Rabastan waved his wand again but nothing happened, he tried a few more times and muttered a few different spells that he recognized as healing spells but none had any effect.

"Alright, we'll have to try something else," Rabastan said quietly, Calderon was finding it harder to care, he was feeling increasingly tired and having a hard time keeping his eyes open to see the former Death Eater take out a small vial, "this contains Phoenix tears, they have healing powers although sadly did nothing for Sal. Its extremely rare but it should work, I don't know whether to warn you it stings or not because I have no idea."

On that note he pulled the stopped and poured the contents of the vial over Calderon's wound, he felt it sting for a moment before feeling the strangest sensation of being filled. The burning and searing pain receded gradually, he felt a comforting warmth spreading where the wound in place of the pain. His breathing evened out and he saw Rabastan smile before stepping up and back, Calderon sat up and pressed his fingers to where the wound had been. The blood was still wet but the actual injury itself was gone, if not for the blood - and he memory of it happening, of course - then he'd never have known he was hurt in the first place. He opened his mouth to thank Rabastan as he looked back up, just in time to see Rabastan finish the imprisoning wall spell to seal him in. Calderon mentally kicked himself, he had to stop trusting people.

* * *

Scorpius followed eagerly and so did Orous, apparently also intent on helping although Scorpius thought maybe it would have been better if he had left because he still looked upset. It was a lot easier walking with Brutus without the enchantment although the place seemed very maze-like, the wood-paneled corridors all looked the same but familiar from his dream with Orous before. It was amazing Orous could find his way, actually Scorpius wondered where he'd been going considering Brutus had had the magic on him not had it wherever it was usually kept. It was odd but he didn't have time to dwell on it as Brutus led them up a flight of stairs.

Finally they turned into one of the rooms, it was a bedroom and Scorpius recognized the occupant of the bed immediately and ran to him. Calderon wasn't looking so good, his breathing seemed unusually shallow and his skin was cold to the touch, he didn't react when Scorpius said his name or shook him gently. Brutus took his shoulders and moved him away to a small bubbling cauldron on a table opposite the bed, he picked up a knife beside it and handed the blade to Scorpius.

"If you want him to live then you need to cut yourself across your scarred hand and let the blood drip into the cauldron to mix with the potion," Brutus explained seriously.

"Why?" Scorpius wondered.

"Because to make blood-replenishing potion you need blood."

"Why not use your blood?"

"Do you want to save your damn cousin or not?"

"My cousin?"

"Calderon! Do you want to save Calderon or not?!" Brutus snapped, " he's running out of time and so am I, I'm risking my life for this and the more time you waste the more chance my betrayal will be discovered."

"How do I know I can trust you? How do I know this isn't some Shadow trick?" Scorpius demanded suspiciously and Brutus rolled his eyes.

"Fine then let him die, I'll take you back to wait for Atty," Brutus growled and handed Scorpius his wand before starting to head towards the door, "there you go and come on."

"Wait!"

If Brutus was trying to trick him then he probably wouldn't have returned his wand and was either a good actor or really wanted to go. Brutus came back over while Scorpius cast one last desperate look at Calderon, he had to help him, Calderon would do the same for him. He took a deep breath and dragged the blade across his hand, wincing at the painful sting of the edge biting into his flesh. Blood dribbled from his hand and into the cauldron, it hissed and the scar on his hand started to glow gray as did the potion for a moment before it became it calmed to a still silver with no glow. He hoped that was normal as Brutus picked up the cauldron.


	63. II: The Shadow Master

_**Thanks to:** Lucifersdaughter, SDF, Aya Diefair and Winged-panther1 for reviewing!_

**_Questions:_**

**_Are we going to see Scorpius having to escape his house just to go to Hogwarts in future books (kind of like what Harry did in Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban)?_**  
_It won't exactly be the same as Harry but Scorpius' parents will have issue and he will have more conflict with them_

* * *

Scorpius pulled his bleeding hand back as Brutus started walking back over to Calderon, looking at the Tiwaz rune now with a diagonal line striking through the arrow stem. It stung painfully, not just the new cut but the rune itself. That was odd. Something felt wrong though. He looked back over to see how Calderon was doing, Brutus had put the small cauldron down on the bedside table and was now filling a vial with it. Calderon still was non-responsive and... something _was_ wrong, it clicked in his mind what it was. Calderon wasn't wearing the dragon necklace that Scorpius had gotten him, he hadn't seen Calderon without it since and he'd been wearing it when they left Hogwarts and got there.

"Where's Calderon's necklace?" Scorpius asked with an increasing feeling of dread.

"How am I supposed to know?" Brutus growled in reply without stopping what he was doing and Scorpius raised his wand at him.

"That's not really Calderon, is it?"

"Considering how he got that name was misreading a hospital sign, no one is actually Calderon."

"You know what I mean!" Scorpius snapped as Brutus finished filling the vial with the silvery substance, he didn't move to administer it though with Scorpius' wand trained on him.

"And it doesn't matter, you willingly gave your blood to the potion so it'll work to revive the person in that bed."

"The Shadow Master."

"Yes, so if you could just lower your wand and make all our lives easier then that'd be great."

"I'm not letting you revive him! He murdered my grandfather!" Scorpius yelled angrily keeping his arm trained on Brutus but his eyes drifted to the Shadow Master, he could kill the man then and have his revenge.

"Lucius killed himself," Brutus told him seriously, "the Specters are trained to kill immediately if the host does certain things without the master's consent, Lucius knew what would happen and he still defied the master. The master wanted him to live long enough to see the new world, the master had no control over his death."

"I still hold him responsible! And he's evil anyway and I'm going to kill him."

"Evil?" Brutus repeated and shook his head, "the Shadow Master's only a gray soul, like you, like me, like your grandfather, like my brother, like Tommy/Calderon. If the master was evil then the master would be a black soul, you know that. You seem to have several misconceptions about our organization and the Shadow Master, we're the good ones here."

"The Shadows have done nothing but kill and destroy! How the hell do you see yourselves as the good ones?!"

"This time last year you were willing to kill six people to stop the Specters, completely willing to murder six innocent people, five of them children and four of them your own friends. Personally, I don't think I could do that, I wouldn't sacrifice the lives of the people I care about for anything. But you would, isn't that more evil? You'd rather have killed good people you liked to save a castle of people who hate you for things beyond your control, people I doubt you even like."

"It was the right thing, the needs of the many outweigh the needs of few," Scorpius mumbled quietly feeling a resurgence of guilt, "if a buildings on fire and you can save one sibling or five strangers then the right thing to do is to save the strangers."

"There is no right thing, its just your opinion. I'd save my brother over twenty random people any day but its not my point. Either way with that analogy, people will die and you have to make a choice to sacrifice them for whichever is the greater good in your opinion. You understand sacrifice, this is like that, sacrifices must be made to make the world better because it sucks right now. Its change and people don't like change," Brutus offered in explanation and Scorpius met his eyes, so much like Professor Ashain's, "I don't even like war but its the only way and eventually everyone will know that too. Join us, Scorpius, we'll make the world a better place I promise you where they'll finally be peace, you won't have to fight anymore, you won't be looked down anymore, you'll be safe again as will the people you care about. Lower your wand and let's save a life."

_"Obey him, Scorpius."_

A part of him knew he should be screaming his denial at Brutus with all his heart, he could understand what Brutus was saying and coming from but something deep down inside of himself knew it was wrong to try change the world like that, short of taking away freewill there'd always be bad people and good people and without free will then it was worse than good and bad. But he couldn't look away from Brutus' eyes, he felt his arm lowering his wand regardless, he felt compelled to obey for reasons beyond his understanding.

"Fight it!" a distant voice yelled, "fight the call, don't listen!"

The voice was so far away and talking nonsense, it didn't matter. Brutus turned back to the unconscious person and went to pour the contents of the vial into his mouth, something about it didn't feel right but he couldn't think what. Abruptly he heard the distant voice cry a spell and a second later, the knife he was still holding in his other hand shot from his grip and drove through Brutus' wrist and hand..

Brutus cried out in pain and fell to his knees but determinedly still reached out his shaking, deformed, bleeding hand just forwards a little more and started to tip the vial. Scorpius' mind screamed at him to stop it but he didn't understand why. A single drop started to fall before the vial was abruptly torn from the man's grasp, being jerked into the wall and shattering. But it was too late. The Shadow Master was revived.

The instant the drop touched the tongue, the Shadow Master gasped as their body arched before falling back down and the dark eyes snapped open. Even though the deformity, Scorpius noticed the relief blood Brutus' face before it contorted into a smile. The Shadow Master sat up, blinking and taking in the sight around them. Scorpius felt like he'd been snapped from a dream, why had he just stood around doing nothing while his grandfather's killed was revived?!

"I'm back, Brutus. Its good to be back," the Shadow Master using Calderon's body said with a smile before losing it when he seemed to notice that Brutus was injured, "you dare attack him?!"

"I'm not afraid of you," the distant voice that belonged to Orous said bravely. He wasn't distant, he was standing only a few feet from him.

Anger flashed across the Shadow Master's face as he jerked his hand, Brutus cried out once more as the knife magically shot out and flew towards the forgotten person in the room. Scorpius' eyes followed its path as he remembered the Shadow Master's crimes and his hatred for the man, too late Scorpius raised his wand to protect Orous as the knife stabbed itself into his friend's chest and must have gone straight through because it appeared again speeding out through his back and clattering to the ground. Orous screamed in pain and collapsed, clutching the wound.

"Let that be a lesson to you!"

* * *

"Sorry Tommy," Rabastan apologized, "but it is necessary, wouldn't want you to run off yet."

"You already took my blood, what more do you want?" Calderon grumbled reaching out to touch the magical wall that zapped his finger. It hurt. Stupid thing.

"Well you see, Sal was put into a coma by the Blood Runes and we've spent the past year trying to revive her. Since it was mostly your blood in the Obelisk, a bit of Scorpius' and his will activating it, we needed your blood then a bit of his given willing. Which was the purpose of drawing you here, we didn't want you to intervene and Sal will probably wish to speak to you."

"I'm not joining Sal's crazy group. Stop asking!" Calderon snapped, hoping the others - even Sal and Brutus - were alright and not killing each other or injuring each other or dead.

"Ah but I think secretly you want to, you just need some incentive," Rabastan commented with a not-so-kindly smile as he raised his wand, "good luck burning this one off."

Calderon was torn between asking how he expected to give him the Shadow symbol when his arms and back were still covered even though his chest was exposed, or how he expected to do the detail on something as narrow as his arm from that distance but he didn't have a chance before a jet of crimson light was cast out from Rabastan's wand. He screamed as it touched his chest, he felt like it was burning intensely and specifically where the light touched and Rabastan started moving his wand and the pain moved with it, like a knife on fire was being dragged through his flesh. He could smell his skin burning and-

Abruptly he heard Rabastan cry out in surprise and glanced back up to see Rabastan being thrown through the air by a spell fired by Ticcy, his wand flew in the opposite direction but Rabastan vanished in a swirl of Shadows. He hated Shadows. Ticcy looked confused but waved his wand to dispel the magical wall anyway, offering him a hand to help him up that Calderon gratefully took, trying not to feel dizzy as he stood from the still searing pain in his chest.

"What's happened?" Calderon wondered, fearful for the others and he wasn't sure how much time they had left anyway.

"Err... I'm not entirely sure, short version is I have no idea where Varanian went. My brother is alive and working with the enemy, he gave me the magic soul ball thing and lowered the apparation wards so I could return, I apparated back and did what he said so Tony's at least not dying but Scor and Orous for some reason must've let go or been pulled back so they weren't apparated. The wards were back up so I had to come from outside again but the enchantments not effecting me anymore - _thankfully_ - to get back to search for them and you, I only just got back inside when I heard your randomly high-pitched screaming and ran to help," Ticcy explained hurriedly, "what's happened with you?"

"The floor ate Varanian so I tried to help and wound up in here then your brother stabbed me to get my blood and ripped out some of my hair and then I was bleeding to death and then Rabastan finally healed me and then trapped me and then... I don't know whatever he just did to me and then you were here and we really need to find the others."

"You talk really fast sometimes, has anyone ever told you that?" Ticcy complained and as Calderon went to nod he caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror on the wall, he felt lights flare around him in horror as he recognized the Shadow symbol now engraved into his pale chest. And then another wave of pain shot through him as the skeletal snake moved, he yanked his ripped sweater closed fearfully, "I-"

Ticcy stopped speaking as a child's scream interrupted, it sounded like it was coming from upstairs. Guilt shattered Ticcy's expression for a moment before he composed himself, anxiety replaced it as he exchanged a worried look with Calderon pushed past the pain to take after Ticcy after the scream.

* * *

Scorpius turned his wand on the Shadow Master but the man only smirked and gestured with his hand, Scorpius' wand was torn from his grip and flung to the opposite side of the room. The Shadow Master started to get off the bed and Scorpius ran protectively to Orous, the Shadow Master didn't seem interested in either of them though as he simply held his hand over Brutus' injured one. Light shot out of the Shadow Master's palm, just like Calderon only the light was blue and Scorpius watched in amazement and horror as Brutus' injury started to heal. Had managing to use Calderon's body somehow given him Calderon's unusual way of using magic or was the Shadow Master like that always?

"R-Run, Sc-Scor... While y-you h-have...ch-chance," Orous stammered weakly and Scorpius looked back to his friend.

"I'm not abandoning you again," Scorpius promised kneeling beside him, hating the crimson staining the white sweater that Orous had been wearing.

"I-I'm d-d-dying, s-save y-yours..."

"You're not dying," Scorpius whispered finding a lump in his throat, "its going to be okay."

"Its ok-okay," Orous told him weakly and his face split into a smile that light up his colorless face, "I t-told y-you, l-like I s-said... s-said I'm pr-pretty m-much already dead, n-no m-more... b-be b-bet-better."

"Save your strength, don't try to speak," Scorpius urged him taking Orous' hand and squeezing it tightly, "please, Orous, don't give up, you're not the kind of person who gives up, you have to keep fighting. Do you understand?"

"The only question you should be wondering is what shall I do with you?" Calderon's - but not Calderon - voice asked, Scorpius spun back round to see the Shadow Master watching him with a healed-Brutus beside him.

Scorpius spied the bloody knife nearby, it was no wand but it was better than nothing and tried to discretely reach for it but the Shadow Master must've noticed because he flicked his hand and the blade sped across the room to land with his wand, the Shadow Master laughed. A very normal laugh, Calderon had a strange high-pitched laugh but the Shadow Master apparently didn't even with Calderon's body. Scorpius got to his feet regardless and positioned himself protectively between Orous and the Shadow Master.

"Children shouldn't play with knives. Also do you actually think a _knife_ would do anything to _me_?" the Shadow Master commented, "I really don't know whether to be impressed by you or loathe you."

"Well I loathe you," Scorpius pointed out and the Shadow Master simply smirked and jerked his hand, Scorpius immediately felt himself flung across the room by an invisible and thrown near his wand and the knife. Before he could scramble for them though, Calderon and Professor Ashain came into the room and the Shadow Master held his hand out at Scorpius.

"Try anything and I kill him, Tommy," the Shadow Master told him and Calderon stopped in his tracks, Professor Ashain looked confused before Calderon hissed at the Shadow Master and the Shadow Master hissed back. Scorpius joined the professor in feeling confused before the Shadow Master flung out his free arm, Professor Ashain was tossed over beside Orous before both vanished into shadows, "wouldn't want to unnecessarily kill one of the five I went through the effort of binding now, would I?"

"Then let Scor go and we'll just leave you to it, you got what you wanted clearly," Calderon said seriously, Scorpius noticed his sweater was ripped at the front and he looked injured.

There was no way the Shadow Master was going to just let them walk out of there, you couldn't trust crazy evil people and their manipulative minions. Scorpius grabbed his wand and aimed it at the Shadow Master, Brutus noticed this and whipped out his wand to aim at Scorpius. The Shadow Master seemed to decide it was safer to disarm him or attack him because a burst of blue magical light shot from his hand, Scorpius wished he was old enough to know the shield charm but instead just tried to jump out of the way before a golden shield appeared around him that the blue magic bounced off of.

Surprise flickered on the Shadow Master's face as he turned back to Calderon who had his arm outstretched, responsible for the protective burst. The Shadow Master smirked and hissed again before throwing his hand in Calderon's direction, blue flames shot out and Scorpius cried out a warning but Calderon already gestured and the flames shot up through the ceiling, showering them in splinters. Calderon flicked his wrist and bed abruptly jumped at the Shadow Master who swished their wrist to make it slam through the wall on the right, causing a huge hole and smashing the bed to smithereens.

Calderon and the Shadow Master didn't give a second's thought to that however as both threw out their hands again, a burst of blue shot from the Shadow Master and a burst of yellow from Calderon that collided and exploded with a bang that flung the pair backwards in opposite directions. Calderon was thrown into the wall while the Shadow Master managed to somehow land on his feet, Brutus ran to him while Scorpius scrambled to try get to Calderon who was already on his feet and lashing out again magically.

A bolt of golden lightning erupted from Calderon's palm while the Shadow Master dodged it and shot back with a blue lightning bolt of his own just as Calderon shot another out, they smashed into each other but didn't break away as both pushed harder with the magic. Sparks flew out and more blasts of crackling lightning, punching holes in the walls, ceiling and floorboards that he and Brutus were forced to try to avoid as well as the splintering shards of wood cast into the air. Scorpius felt like he was trapped in a plasma globe.

"Scor, get behind me!" Calderon yelled over the clashing magic and Scorpius obliged as Calderon held his free hand back to put up a shield around Scorpius to protect him from the offshoots of magic.

The Shadow Master did a similar thing to protect Brutus as both put more force into the magic, Scorpius could swear the bolts were getting wider, louder and sparking more the longer it went on. And then Calderon laughed, if he ever needed reminded that it was his Calderon and not the Shadow Master imposter than he got it, Calderon's incredibly high pitched laugh pierced over the thrum of magical energies as he pushed harder again as did the Shadow Master. It forged a pulsing, pure white ball that grew bigger and bigger, Scorpius was seriously considering telling Calderon to stop but then he was equally afraid of what would happen if he did.

"Stop this!" Brutus cried finally over the laughter and roar of magic, echoing Scorpius' sentiments but it came too late to stop the fulmination.

The blast was devastating and deafening. Calderon threw himself away from the magic at Scorpius just in time, he hugged him too him and everything was chaos. Scorpius squeezed shut his eyes but the torrent of the roaring blast battered away at his ears, only stopped by the thrum from the magic Calderon had to be using to protect them. And then he felt himself thudding to the earthy ground in the dark beside Calderon.

It took Scorpius a moment of reeling from the explosion to realize the only light was now coming from a silver semi-circle in the sky along with stars, it was also colder. He sat up and looked around in confusion to see that they were no longer in the upstairs room they'd been in but on the ground outside, or rather where the manor had been before. There was no manor now. The surrounding area looked the same in placement of the trees but the manor was gone, replaced by a scattering of debris on scorched earth.

"Calderon?" Scorpius questioned, shaking Calderon's arm which made him groan groggily.

He caught sight of the Shadow Master and Brutus across the clearing, seeming rather unscathed as Brutus helped his master to his feet and looked around. Scorpius scrambled to his feet out of desperate fear that they'd get away, he couldn't let the Shadow Master get away, not after everything he'd done, not after he'd been revived by Scorpius' hand. The guilt gnawed at his heart and drove him on as he trained his wand on the Shadow Master, the Shadow Master chucked with amusement at this as he started walking towards him with Brutus in his shadow. Scorpius swallowed nervously but he kept his wand steady.

"That's enough! No further," Scorpius yelled and the Shadow Master halted a few feet away, smiling with Calderon's mouth, "you're not going anywhere."

"Tommy and I just obliterated a building without wands, do you actually think that silly stick is any defense or threat against me?" the Shadow Master wondered, "what's your plan here anyway? Turn me in? Do you think Aurors would stand anymore chance against me? Do you think even if they could that I couldn't escape from any pathetically pale comparison to Azkaban that they'd put me in? I destroyed Azkaban after all and liberated an entire army."

"I'm going to kill you. You killed my grandfather."

"Actually I'm pretty sure I didn't, I was too busy being repelled from controlling him to be able to kill him or call off the Specter but if you want to kill me then go ahead," the Shadow Master offered and laughed, a normal non-Calderon laugh, holding out his arms while Brutus' eyes bulged in horror, "kill me then, I'd still be as good as dead right now if not for you anyway and I hear you were tricked into it. Its completely your choice now, no tricks, no calling, nothing but your own choice."

"S-"

"The boy should have his chance, Brutus," the Shadow Master interrupted holding out his arms in a gesture of openness, "although brilliant plan by the way. So go on, Scorpius, I'd rather it be on this special day that I die if it must be so."

Scorpius raised his wand a little higher directly at the center of the Shadow Master's chest, he knew the spell to kill, _Avada Kedavra_. He'd killed before. The Shadow Master was right in front of him, not even trying to fight or run, just watching him with Calderon's dark eyes with a mixture of curiosity and amusement. That man was responsible for his grandfather's death, no matter on the specifics, responsible for _a lot_ of deaths, a lot of pain, his own worst nightmares and if Scorpius let him go then he'd just be responsible for me. It was the logical thing to do to kill him, to avenge those gone and to spare the future victims.

"Avad... Ava... Av..." Scorpius tried to mumble out the words.

But he couldn't.

Maybe it was the fact the Shadow Master wasn't fighting or was so willing, maybe it was because the Shadow Master was disguised as someone he cared so much for, maybe Scorpius was just a coward. He knew he should kill him, the words got jumbled in his mouth and jammed up his tongue. Rationally he should do it, emotionally he despised the man but his head nor heart could force the words out. Deep down he just didn't want to kill. The Shadow Master smirked triumphantly at him as he lowered his arms.

"Just what I thought. You can't kill me because deep down you are dark and you do _want_ to join us, on the surface you're just not ready to accept that yet. I'll see you, Scorpius, but for now I bid you farewell and leave you with my gratitude for saving me from that coma, thank you," the Shadow Master offered with a flourishing bow before turning to Brutus, "Scorpius is free to go, however Tommy is coming with us, I can't resist capturing him while he's weakened from the branding. Send Dementors for him after you take me to the new location."

With that Brutus offered out his hand that the Shadow Master smiled and took as they vanished into the darkness. Scorpius' arm jerkily lowered his wand as he fell to his knees, the weight of the events threatening to crush him to the ground. He heard Calderon stir weakly and glanced at him, noticing for the first time the cause of his injury was the Shadow's twisted skeletal snake symbol with its forked tongue sticking. The livid raw brand actually looked like it was moving shifting on Calderon's pale skin, it looked like it hurt.

He shivered. At first thinking it was the thought of Calderon's injury or because of the chill in the night air, before he heard a rattly breath and stopped feeling like he'd ever be happy again. The Shadow Master's last words echoed again in his mind as the realization dawned on him: the Dementors were here.


	64. II: Unleashed

_**Thanks to:** Winged-panther1 and Lucifersdaughter for reviewing!_

_**Author's Note:** Sorry this took so long, got distracted with plans for the next book. Next chapter will probably be the last but I will do another chapter after to alert people when I upload book 3 which I actually have a working title for this time yay. Which book did you like better? 1 or 2 although I think I already know the answer  
_

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"Calderon! Calderon! Wake up, Dementors are coming!" Scorpius hissed in panic as he shook Calderon's shoulder, he didn't think his window of a Patronus would be nearly enough to fight them off.

"Not Dementors please, master," Calderon mumbled sleepily and scowled without opening his eyes, "not Dementors."

"Calderon!" Scorpius protested desperately, Calderon stirred but wasn't waking up close to fast enough to fight them off, "_Expecto Patronum!_"

Predictably, Scorpius' spell only conjured up a stupidly useless silver window. The hooded figures were swarming and he couldn't muster up anything more than a window to defend himself and Calderon, even that felt like it was eating his wrist alive. One of the Dementors swooped down as Calderon finally started to sit up groggily, giving a high-pitched shriek in realization and jamming his hands against his head as he squeezed his eyes shut and fell back down, too busy being overwhelmed by the Dementors to fight them off.

The Dementor was more interested in Scorpius though its scaly, scabby hand through the window like it was nothing and grabbed Scorpius' wrist, he dropped in wand in shock at the touch. The window started to disintegrate and it dawned on Scorpius that despite the apparent uselessness of his spell, it had been protecting him from the effects of the Dementor but now memories started to flicker through his mind. His abduction, his grandfather's death, scarring Michael, sacrificing his friends, Orous getting stabbed, watching the Shadow Master revived... And NO! He wasn't going to just watch something else bad happen, he had to do something. He had to fight. If he didn't then Calderon would be lost.

He tried to pull his arm away but the Dementor's hand might have well as been an iron vice, instead he scrambled with his free left hand for the fallen wand and found it. Scorpius clutched it in his palm, it was still stinging from the cut but he held it as tight as he could and fought for good memories to overcome the bad. The last Christmas with his family, the pillow-fight with his friends, the scent of cherries when Molly hugged him, flying, playing chess with Calderon on the train and recalled Professor Ashain's words to Michael: '_if you're thinking that you're going to fail then you're not concentrating fully on your memory and projecting the Patronus_.' Focus.

_"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"_

Silver light erupted from the tip of his wand, the Dementor wailed and let go of his wrist, forced back by the light now shielding him and Calderon, the hooded swarm encircling them stopped their approach and backed off. He stood shakily, the pain in his wrist had never been that bad, like acid eating through his skin but he pushed past it as shoved his arm up into the air, forcing the magic on through, he needed the Dementors gone not hanging around nearby just not attacking. His first Patronus was fading anyway.

_"EXPECTO PATRONUM!"_

Scorpius had been expecting another pulse of silver light to come out the tip of his wand, to banish them but instead a creature came forth. A blindingly silver dazzling creature, he thought it was probably an odd Patronus to have but it didn't surprise him, not even slightly, when he thought about it, he wasn't sure what else it could have been but a Thestral.

It reared up on its hind legs and kicked the Dementor back with its front legs, the Dementor started to flee. The Thestral spread out its wings and took flight, gliding at the dark hooded shapes that fled, scattering back into the night like roaches running back to the shadows after being exposed to the light. The Thestral soared and drove them back until Scorpius could no longer see them or feel their effects.

The pain in his wrist was incredible though and when he finally had the courage to tear his eyes from his Patronus to look at his wrist, he saw it was glowing silver as was his hand. He dropped his wand in surprise for the second time, the rune scarred into his palm was gleaming with silver light, it blazed so brightly and the pain in his wrist intensified so much that he passed out...

"Scor?" Calderon's voice called and Scorpius felt himself being shaken slightly, he fought to open his eyes and Calderon looked relieved, "are you okay?"

"I don't know," Scorpius admitted as he struggled to sit up, finding they were still in the clearing where the building had once stood, he glanced at his left limb and saw it was no longer glowing and the bruise-that-wasn't-bruising was gone although the scar remained, "are you?"

"I don't know," Calderon shrugged but seemed to relax, "I'm not being abducted by Dementors so that's good."

"I cast a Patronus."

"Yes you did, a Thestral. Pretty cool. Not as cool as dragons - obviously - but cool."

"Yeah..." Scorpius said slowly without taking his eyes off his wrist, "except for my wrist hurting and passing out."

"Don't worry about it, I fixed it."

"You fixed it?" Scorpius repeated and Calderon seemed to be avoiding looking at him.

"The scar on your wrist... it was created by Dark Magic... by the Shadow Master and its... a kind of link..." Calderon told him awkwardly before sighing, "do you know where the Specters come from?"

"No... Do you?" Scorpius wondered in fearful surprise.

"They come from Dementors, Scor, they're the Shadows of Dementors. The Dementors suck out the souls with they kiss for their Shadows to feed on, they feed off pain and tearing souls up is the most painful thing which is why its the best although they feed off any pain, physical or mental even from paper cuts to torture to emotional anguish. You can magically sever their ties to their Dementor and bind them to yourself instead, that's what the Shadow Master does. I think the Shadow Master linked you to... to themselves to feed them because well they probably don't want to be in pain all the time but want the Shadows to do things for them without them complaining and fighting against them because they're not satisfied.

"That bruise on your wrist wasn't a bruise, it was a mark of them latching onto you magically waiting to feed, distance doesn't matter with a magical connection to them, the worse the bruising looked the deeper the tighter they latched and the more influence they'd have. I don't think you were sleepwalking earlier, I think they told the Shadows to call to you and you were subconsciously answering the call. It'd be harder to call to you since you're not their master but it would be possible since you're bound to their master, subconsciously and with more power and more time to develop an influence its possible.

"You passed out casting a Patronus because they're repelled by it too, it was hurting them and because of the connection it hurt you too. I can't break the connection to the Shadow Master, I noticed some Dark Magic connection - although didn't realize it was to the Shadow Master and Shadows - the first time I healed you in first year after James and his friends hurt you, I noticed it when I got to your wrist but it just hurt you and I don't want to risk hurting or killing you by breaking that connection, especially now with the Blood Runes I wouldn't know what it would do. I sealed it as much as I could and the Shadows won't be able to latch onto you anymore."

"You didn't learn all this from the Shadow Master telling you last year, did you?" Scorpius guessed and Calderon still wouldn't look at him, "otherwise you would have said, you knew this from before you came to Hogwarts, didn't you?"

"Yes," Calderon admitted so quietly his voice was barely audible, Scorpius decided to risk pressing for more.

"And the Shadow Master has magic like you and knows about you."

"Yes."

"You know who the Shadow Master is, don't you?" Scorpius asked and Calderon hesitated.

"I know its someone who knew me when your grandfather did."

"But you know who they are?"

"Would it matter if I did?" Calderon protested, "I don't know where they are or have any way to contact them so it'd be completely useless, any description I might possibly have is twenty-two years out of date so also useless. A name they wouldn't even use anymore is useless. It could be a number of people, plenty of people knew about me from then."

"Was there others my grandfather tortured then?" Scorpius wondered and Calderon nodded, "did Brutus torture you too?"

"No. He was one of the guards though, Brutus was always good to me," Calderon explained and Scorpius was reminded of one thing Brutus had said that weighed heavily on his mind.

"Brutus... Brutus said something... slightly odd in there... when he was pretending that the Shadow Master was you to trick me into saving you and reviving him..."

"Well I did tell you before to never try to save me."

"That's not what was weird. He said... He said you were my cousin," Scorpius offered and looked to Calderon for his reaction but he was still not looking at him.

"Technically... we are," Calderon confirmed and Scorpius jolted in shock, "Bellatrix Lestrange was my mother. Which makes your grandparents are my aunt and uncle, your father my cousin which would make you my cousin too but a different kind of cousin because there's different numbers and removed cousins, I don't know how it works."

"Bellatrix?" Scorpius repeated in confusion, "but wouldn't she have been in Azkaban when you were born?"

"She was. I was born there, my name never registered because Azkaban is outside of the England considered zone. I grew up there until my mother was broken out, I along with her when I was thirteen which is why I never got a chance to use a wand or go to Hogwarts before then. Never stood a chance at sanity, did I?"

"I'm sorry," Scorpius said while realizing it made sense, Calderon's awkward reactions to his aunts, them thinking he looked familiar was probably noticing a familial resemblance, about his past, his intense dislike and fear of Azkaban and Dementors, his lack of sanity, although it did mean Scorpius' great aunt would have been the psycho who carved the Dark Mark into her son's arm and that Rodolphus was probably Calderon's father which meant he had killed his own father, "who else knows?"

"Aside from the Death Eaters who knew about me? Only you and Varanian."

"So we're really cousins?"

"Yep," Calderon nodded Scorpius felt a smile creep onto his face, delighted at the thought of his hero being related to him, even if it meant he felt a worse pang of guilt that his grandfather could torture his own nephew.

"Cool, I never had a cousin before," Scorpius pointed out and Calderon finally looked up at him in surprise before cautiously returning the smile, "so your birth name is Tommy Lestrange?"

"Something like that," Calderon shrugged before they were distracted by someone emerging from the treeline, Scorpius grabbed up his wand in readiness but it was only Varanian with a boy that was almost certainly the missing Lorcan, "ah Pippy, glad the floor didn't eat you to death."

"The floor didn't eat me," Varanian insisted while he and Lorcan looked around the clearing in puzzlement, "it just gave way and led to a dungeon, I found Lorcan and we got out this long tunnel then saw some kind of explosion and headed towards it. What happened to the building?"

"It... explosioned."

"Explosioned is not a word," Lorcan informed them, eying the both of them suspiciously and hanging close by to Varanian with a lit up wand in hand.

"How did it explode? What happened? Where's Ashain?" Varanian questioned not interested in Calderon's odd word choice as the pair came over to them.

"Me and the Shadow Master were fighting and it exploded," Calderon told him with another tired shrug and opened his mouth to speak but was interrupted.

"Wait, the Shadow Master is back?"

"They revived the Shadow Master?" Lorcan added, speaking at the same time as Varanian and sharing his expression of shock.

"Did _everyone_ know the Shadow Master was in a coma but me?" Calderon complained looking exasperated while Varanian gave Scorpius an accusing look that shot him with guilt. He'd fallen for Brutus' deception, hadn't stopped the Shadow Master's revival and then hadn't had the guts to kill him just then. It was all his fault, "did I just miss something?"

"Apparently yes. How could you let the Shadow Master be revived?!" Lorcan demanded sounding distraught before a pop distracted them for a moment but it was just Professor Ashain, "the Shadows were lost with their master, now all hell is going to break loose."

"Didn't there used to be a whole manor house place here?" Professor Ashain wondered in shock.

"Used to."

"What happened to..." Professor Ashain began but trailed off looking anxious although seemed afraid to finish that sentence, Scorpius guessed what he was worried about though.

"Your brother got away with the Shadow Master," Scorpius answered for him and the professor managed to look extremely relieved, guilty and anxious all at once while Varanian started in shock.

"Your _brother_?! Brutus Ashain is alive and working for the Shadow Master?! You faked his death?! Are you working for them too?!" Varanian reeled off the questions again.

"I didn't fake his death, I thought he was dead!" Professor Ashain protested casting a glare at Varanian, "I have nothing to do with those people."

"Why should we believe you about being innocent?"

"Why should we believe_ you _about being innocent?!" Professor Ashain countered and Varanian's shock of anger was also replaced by guilt.

"Fair point."

"Whose the little boy?"

"Lorcan Scamander," Lorcan answered for himself, "Varanian saved me."

"Wait, what happened to Orous?" Scorpius wondered, reminded anxiously of his friend.

"I brought him to the hospital wing, that's where I went after I... I don't know how I got outside but I hope that never happens to me again and where I was. Marigold is seeing to him, he should be alright," Professor Ashain explained and Scorpius felt a bubble of relief.

"Speaking of which, we should probably be getting back to Hogwarts," Calderon offered as he stood, cringing in pain as he wrapped his torn sweater around himself to hide the brand.

"Yeah you should," Varanian agreed and his eyes rested on Scorpius as he also got up, clearly intending to talk to him about it more later, "and I have things to do."

"What!? No, no, no! You're a fugitive, we can't just let you go!" Professor Ashain burst out and raised his wand at Varanian, Lorcan defensively stepped in front of Varanian and pointed the wand at the professor but went completely unnoticed by either man, "you're come back to turn yourself in."

"I'm not the freakin' Shadow Master!"

"And I believe you, really I do which is all the more reason to turn yourself in! Explain it to Harry, agree to truth serum and Legilimancy and they can clear your name."

"I can't. There's Shadows in the Aurors and Ministry, they'd kill me first like they tried to do before which is why I ran in the first place."

"Come on, I was an Auror for over a decade, I can't just let fugitives walk free. Harry will protect you from any Shadow Aurors."

"They killed that Shadow Auror while he was in custody," Varanian pointed out and Professor Ashain's wand wavered as he seemed to consider this before finally lowering it and sighing heavily, Varanian inclined his head in gratitude.

"Kill me now," Professor Ashain muttered looking away as Varanian disapparated, Lorcan lowered the wand and looked around sadly before reluctantly moving closer to them, "alright let's get back then."

"Do we have to apparate? I don't like to be touched," Lorcan told them quietly.

"We do have to apparete," Calderon confirmed gently, "but I'll tell you what, just take my sleeve when you're ready."

"Come on, Scor," Professor Ashain offered tiredly, Scorpius took it and was apparated back reluctantly to the hospital wing where everyone seemed to have moved.

Orous was in one of the beds with Marigold tending to him, Professor Ashain's son was in the bed beside him and seemed to be sleeping but was breathing. Skye was sitting beside her son, holding his hand with a concerned expression, Michael was sitting in between the two beds, Maurice was pacing and Professor Ashain's daughter was sitting beside Michael rather than on the other side with her mother with Calderon's dog at their feet asleep. It was only a minute later that Calderon returned with Lorcan, he left them there just after to contact people or something. Marigold urged him and Lorcan to sit in beds until he was ready for them since they were injured, Michael and Maurice both came over to sit with him while Professor Ashain took his seat beside his daughter who immediately preceded to climb onto his lap. It was strange to be back, it made the night's events seem so surreal to return to suddenly to such a normal place. Scorpius rather wished it wasn't real.

No one actually said much, Skye was the only one who tried to talk but Professor Ashain made it pretty clear he wasn't interested in talking, Marigold grumbled constantly but only to himself. Lorcan sat gripping the wand tightly and jumping at every sound, looking incredibly anxious. Scorpius was glad no one spoke to him because he didn't really feel like talking either, he was still too busy digesting and feeling guilty. Marigold finished dealing with Orous quickly, telling them he'd be alright - much to Scorpius and everyone's immense relief - before having a quick out of earshot conversation with Lorcan before coming over to tend to his hand, Scorpius thought Calderon probably needed treatment more than him. Marigold had just finished with him when Calderon returned with Lorcan's parents and twin, they ran to Lorcan delightedly but Lorcan flinched away as he was pulled into three hugs at once with them.

"I don't like to be touched," Lorcan mumbled looking petrified as they backed off to give him some space, clinging to the wand like it was his lifeline, the upset was visible on their faces, Lysander seemed confused, his mother nodded in acceptance while his father teared up and started to protest that hugs were good and they missed and loved him.

"You three can go back to your dormitories, get some rest," Calderon offered to Scorpius, Michael and Maurice, Scorpius nearly jumped having not noticed him come over to them.

They nodded but Scorpius hesitated before leaving to hug his newfound cousin, he thought Calderon would probably need it considering how he was either going to be slaughtered by the Aurors for putting Hogwarts at risk and getting a student stabbed or praised as a hero for saving Lorcan. Either way he felt a sliver of comfort when Calderon hugged him back, he had just unleashed the Shadow Master back into the world after all and saving them from Dementors didn't seem as impressive when he thought of that.


	65. II: This Is War

"So are you going to tell us what happened?" Maurice demanded as soon as they were out of the hospital wing which earned him a dark look from Michael, "because Ashain was all not talking about it and apparently has no idea how Orous got stabbed."

"I don't really want to talk about it," Scorpius muttered, "I just want to go to bed, we still have exams tomorrow."

"Did you fight any Shadows? Specters? Did you see the actual Shadow Master? Did any of you four kill the Shadow Master? Did you kill anyone? Who stabbed Orous?"

"He said he doesn't want to talk about it!" Michael snapped defensively and Maurice just looked annoyed.

"I'm not allowed to come with you and then you won't tell me anything, aren't you curious?"

"I really don't want to talk about it," Scorpius answered irritably which made Maurice sigh but he seemed to realize it was futile to ask again at least. Scorpius was just glad when he could finally bid farewell to Maurice and crawl back into bed.

"Are you alright?" Michael asked him as he went to pull back the drapes.

"Fine," Scorpius insisted before closing them.

He didn't think he would sleep well but casting the Patronus still drained him and he slipped into sleep quickly, for the first time in a long time he didn't wake up the following morning with his sweat soaked clothes sticking to him. For the first time in what felt like forever he actually felt well rested. Michael however wasn't, he'd apparently been up studying all night because he couldn't sleep although neither mentioned anything about the night's events to the others and Maurice didn't seem to either and even when Vern came over to ask about Orous they only mentioned something had happened last night but he would be alright and didn't elaborate, they, there was no point distracting the others from their exams and Scorpius still didn't feel like talking about it. The exams were a welcome distraction.

The exams were actually generally easier than Scorpius had thought, the written ones were all questions he basically knew the answer to from covering it in class - although he wasn't as confident on his History of Magic one - and Michael had been given extra time to account for his dyslexia so Scorpius hoped that would help. He aced the practicals especially the spellwork - although considering how Grant glared at him loathingly, he was slightly concerned about failing just because Grant hated him - and impressed himself with his Herbology practical, from Professor Longbottom's smile he thought the professor was impressed too.

Lorcan and his family were gone by the following day but Orous and Tony - Professor Ashain's son - were, Orous recovered quickly and was out by Wednesday while Tony remained for longer. Scorpius hadn't thought about it at the time but having the magic ripped out of his soul and put back left Tony in the same sad state that Orous was in, he didn't speak for days although Orous was spending a lot of time with him to try help him cope with it, enlisting the help of Calderon's dog since Orous claimed petting animals helped. Tony didn't seem to have improved all week but he went home anyway, he spoke for the first time to thank Orous which Scorpius took to be a good sign, he hoped he'd be alright.

The circumstances surrounding Lorcan's recovery were in the papers, Lorcan apparently had spoken out in defense of Varanian and cited him as his savior which had sparked quite the controversy. Their was conflicting stories and views, the majority continued believing Varanian still to be the Shadow Master and had simply tricked Lorcan to seem innocent or had altered his memory or that Lorcan had mistaken Varanian for someone else due to his metamorphmagi status while others thought Varanian was innocent and being framed either by the Shadows or some wild conspiracy theory about the Ministry. The Ministry launched an official statement that the circumstances surrounding Lorcan's rescue were 'complicated' and they weren't sure of Varanian's involvement or the extent of his involvement.

No one asked Scorpius about it except his friends but he still didn't elaborate. It felt wrong to talk about it, it wasn't his story to tell, he had no right to divulge private information about Tony and Orous or Calderon and Professor Ashain or Lorcan, he certainly couldn't say about Varanian and risk him. Except to Michael. He felt increasingly anxious about it after the distraction of exams ended, the Shadows actually hadn't attacked since their master's revival but Scorpius was dreading when the attacks started again, every last one would be his fault for not killing the man when he had the chance or even not reviving him when he had the chance.

He had a newfound understanding for Michael's worry over helping Varanian and thinking he might have helped the Shadow Master, Michael alone hadn't asked him about what had happened, not once. That was Scorpius finally made up his mind to take a leap and trust him, he really needed someone to talk to about it and Calderon was too busy, Professor Ashain - who he couldn't tell everything to anyway - had taken summer vacation early and gone home after the exams and Orous or Maurice he couldn't tell without being afraid of divulging the fact they might be twins. That Saturday he took Michael to the Room That Doesn't Exist and told him everything everything, he hadn't fully been intending to at first but he felt the need to explain things and Michael was a good listener. Scorpius told him everything he'd left out last year about the Blood Runes, as briefly as he could about Marvin and the muggles, his alliance with Varanian, their fight with the Shadows, his wrist and everything that had happened in Pandoran Hills. He was glad Michael didn't interrupt because he didn't think he'd have been able to talk about it if he'd been interrupted and had to start again. He was relieved when he got to the end.

"Do you feel better?" Michael asked him when he was finished.

"Depends on what you think," Scorpius pointed out.

"Well I think you shouldn't feel bad, killing someone isn't easy and killing someone in self-defense is different to just outright killing someone, Shadow Master or not."

"I was weak and now the Shadow Master's going to wreak havoc and its all my fault, I could've stopped it."

"You don't know that, if you had properly tried to kill the Shadow Master then he or Brutus probably would have reacted whatever he said, he's not going to stand around stupidly and let himself be killed. Having morals doesn't make you weak, it might've saved both of your lives because they could've killed you when they reacted and then you couldn't have saved you both from the Dementors. You can't blame yourself, you did the best you could and you saved yourself and Calderon, everyone got out okay so take that as a win. And you cast a Patronus."

"Wait that's it? That's your reaction?" Scorpius wondered in surprise, "I tell you all that and your reaction is try and make me feel better?"

"How did you expect me to react? I'm surprised yeah but you're still my friend, I'm not ditching you just because things have been tough for you. Friends are there for each other."

"It doesn't bother you I killed someone?"

"Its not like you assassinated a saint," Michael pointed out, "I don't blame you."

"What about being willing to kill you to save the school?"

"Scorpius, I'd give my life in a second to save a thousand others, not to mention how many others would've died on top of that from the army of possessed children."

"You're an unusual person, you know that?" Scorpius offered to which Michael nodded and Scorpius was so relieved he hugged him, "thank you, you're a good friend."

Scorpius did feel a lot better after talking to Michael and he agreed to try help him find out the Shadow teacher next year too, Scorpius still didn't feel blame-free about the Shadow Master but he did feel better. In general things weren't so bad at the end of that year, there was lots of free time - especially since Defense Against the Dark Arts were free periods until the summer - to hang out with his friends and he wasn't sleepwalking or waking up drenched in sweat anymore. It was almost relaxing if not for the Shadows on his thoughts, he was dreading going home and having to explain to Varanian about reviving and then not killing the Shadow Master plus he refused to forgive his parents for St Mungo's at Christmas. They got their exam results back in the second week and Scorpius was pleased with his grades:

_Astronomy: 85%_

_Charms: 85%_

_Defense Against the Dark Arts: 95%_

_Herbology: 90%_

_History of Magic: 70%_

_Potions: 90%_

_Transfiguration: 95%_

None of his friends had done really badly, Michael and Rose - who was distraught to realize she hadn't come top of the class for any subject - had passed everything, Abby had scraped a pass in everything but History of Magic which she only got 50% for and Albus had only failed History of Magic and Astronomy - which he claimed to have fallen asleep for. Vern and Corin had passed everything as well, Orous had been exempt from exams due to his injury and Maurice had done flawlessly as expected, having gotten the highest marks for every subject across the entire year. Molly also claimed to have passed everything although she admitted to barely scraping through in History of Magic but a pass was a pass as far as she was concerned.

And then it was the last week, Scorpius couldn't believe how quickly time passed before he was sitting in the Great Hall for the End-Of-Term Feast. Calderon naturally would wait for everyone to be engaged in conversation for making the high-pitched whistle to draw their attention to him to listen, he was smiling though.

"Before we eat I finally get to perform my very last duties as Acting Headmaster, award the House Cup for this year, when you all come back next year - and you will because the Seventh Years are in Beauxbatons - Headmistress McGonagall will have returned and give you the results for the Triwizard Tournament," Calderon announced brightly, "so firstly the House Cup, currently the points stand with Gryffindor in fourth place with three-hundred and seventy-five, Slytherin in third place with four-hundred, Hufflepuff in second place with four-hundred and twenty-five and Ravenclaw in first place with four-hundred and seventy. Before we celebrate there are some last minute points I want to award.

"To Scorpius Malfoy of Gryffindor and Orous Knox of Hufflepuff I award each fifty points for incredible courage in the face of adversity and to Michael Sanford for always doing the right thing regardless of the personal cost or the credit, fifty points. For those of you who can count and those who count, that now puts Gryffindor and Hufflepuff in joint first place with four-hundred and seventy-five!"

The hall erupted into cheer from the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables, jumping up as if that would make the cheers louder and people hugging or clapping each other on the back and those nearest congratulating him and Michael. Scorpius stood up to clap, he still refused to feel like a Gryffindor but he was glad Hufflepuff had taken joint first and that Michael had earned those well-deserved points, he thought he saw a hint of a smile on Orous' face as people started hugging him and clapping him on the back for his points. Maurice alone remained seated at the Gryffindor table, disinterested in the festivities and looking actually bored with all it despite his house's victory.

"Why are you sitting?!" Rose demanded of him fiercely.

"I don't care about stupid things like house points," Maurice stated stiffly with a shrug but Rose hauled him up to his feet looking completely bewildered, "unhand me, woman!"

"Not until you applaud! Three of your friends just won enough points to joint win the House Cup and your own house was one of those victors so you are going to cheer, dammit!" Rose yelled at him, Maurice gave her a poisonous look before clapping half-heartedly, "have to rub it in Copper's face!

"Yay for winning," Maurice said emotionlessly but Rose seemed content enough, it was about all you were going to get out of Maurice before Calderon whistled again and gestured for everyone to sit back down.

"I wasn't done yet!" Calderon insisted to the hall and cleared his throat, "there's still the Triwizard thing. Alright now finally, the winner of the Triwizard Tournament is Heather Longbottom of Hogwarts! We're all winners today."

This time every person in the hall cheered, Professor Longbottom looked like his face was going to burst with pride as he applauded with his mismatched hands, Nick and Abby were going ballistic. Maurice continued his unenthusiastic applause but the mood in Hogwarts that day was a good one. Almost good enough to forget that they'd be returning home the following day.

Michael was again enlisted to help the other three pack before they headed off down to breakfast, Albus was in good spirits, excitedly blabbering about seeing them at the Quidditch World Cup and about last night's victories although Michael was very quiet as was Scorpius. He was surprised to find Maurice and Corin already down there - that wasn't unusual, they usually were there first - but what was surprising was that Vern and Orous were sitting with them.

"Um... Forget your table?" Albus offered as they sat down.

"My father said its alright for them to sit here, its breakfast on the last day of term so who cares?" Corin answered dismissively with a shrug, Scorpius didn't mind although Vern apparently did as he looked utterly miserable before the girls arrived, getting the same answer from Corin for the same question.

"What's wrong with you?" Abby asked of Vern, also noticing his upset.

"Just not looking forward to the summer," Vern told her quietly, picking at his food.

"Why?" Albus wondered looking genuinely puzzled, "you get to see the Quidditch World Cup because we got landed with you and I'm the one who has to give up my room to share with you."

"My parents are dead, Al, I lost my family and I'll be spending the summer in a house full of people who hate me and don't want me there," Vern answered suddenly struggling to fight off tears, "James said Uncle Harry's going to make me pay for my grandparents being s-so horrible to him and I'll have to eat dirt and sleep in a cupboard."

"Ignore James or I'll just set his robes on fire again," Orous offered gently and everyone looked at him in shock except Maurice who looked proud before Orous seemed to realize what he'd said, "it was an accident, I didn't mean to and I wouldn't really do it again on purpose even if I knew how. James is just being mean."

"Well don't listen to James," Albus spoke up to everyone's surprise, "Dad really is very into us being nice to you, he doesn't blame people for the wrongs of their families. You're... alright, Dursl- Vern."

"Thanks," Vern whispered with a weak smile.

Albus immediately changed the subject and started asking Michael about Crystal's opinion on his shirt much to Michael's chagrin, Scorpius actually didn't mind too much considering he wouldn't see any of his friends until the Quidditch World Cup. They headed out to the carriages pulled by the Thestals, he smiled as he saw them, his Patronus animal and petted Tenebrus gently before getting in with Abby, Albus, Michael and Molly.

"By the way, my Patronus is a Thestral," Scorpius offered to the group who looked at him in surprise except Michael who already know, "in case you were wondering, I cast it that night I can't talk about."

"Awesome!" Molly beamed and high-fived him, Scorpius' grin only widened, he suddenly felt like never washing that hand again as she excitedly started talking about her Eagle Owl Patronus that she didn't usually mention because Second Years - or most - couldn't do it.

Molly sat with them in the train as well along with Dom who spent the entire time writing a novel-length letter to Aurelius, the journey went too quickly before they pulled into the platform. Molly said goodbye as she went over to her father and squib sister, catching a glimmer of the lecture he started about exam results and wanting her to get prefect which made Molly roll her eyes and Abby also left with Nick and her mother fairly quickly. Corin had to leave immediately to get to another platform to take the train to France again so Scorpius didn't get to see him but he did meet up with his other first year friends.

"Mikey! And Mikey's friend with the awesome leather jacket and others," Jack's voice greeted them and both Michael and Albus looked incredibly excited but Scorpius didn't mind him despite his flaws, he had given Scorpius' his leather jacket although it was getting a bit small, it was still his favorite.

"_Michael_. Where's Crystal? Or Bob?" Michael asked immediately, Jack looked slightly hurt.

"Crystal asked me to pick you up 'cause she was working so here I am, said I'd make it up to you for missing that eye thing but I am totally loving the blue...ness. Gotta admit that whole wall thing is pretty awesome but, thought I was going to just fall run into knock myself out there but no sailed right on through, I did it several times until some grumpy dude with a rod up his ass told me to not to. Although I must say a train? Not even a flying train, magical people couldn't think of a cooler way to get to places than a train."

"There's my father," Maurice pointed out and waved bye as he went over to his father who was staring creepily at Orous again.

"What'd'ya know, that's the guy who told me not to keep running through the barrier!"

"What'd'ya know, there's my mum!" Albus exclaimed happily, Vern looked petrified suddenly as Mrs Potter came over to them with Lily and Hugo, once more she was minding her nephew and picking up her niece because Mr and Mrs Weasley - the ones who were Rose's parents - were busy working like her husband, "hey Mum, Lils, Hugo."

"Well if it isn't the most beautiful red-haired fox in the train station tonight," Jack offered with a grin and a wink, "miss me?"

"Like Dragon Pox," Mrs Potter answered coolly, Michael looked somewhere between deeply ashamed and apologetic.

"I don't know what that is so I'm just going to assume its magic talk for yes."

"Do you want me to throw you in front of that train?"

"Is that magic talk for what I think it is?" Jack wondered seductively.

"I-"

"Jack, can we please just go?" Michael pleaded and Jack rolled his eyes.

"All wizards, does like magic replace your sense of fun? Gah," Jack complained before turning back to Ginny, "my love-ly Gin - which coincidentally is my favorite drink - I bit you adieu."

Mrs Potter sighed tiredly and glared after him but Jack did leave with Michael, Scorpius and Orous said goodbye and also moved away to give them some privacy as she greeted Vern kindly. Scorpius spotted his parents but Orous' dad seemed late and wanting to put off speaking to his parents he stayed with Orous for a moment.

"Its not over is it?" Orous asked him with a sigh, although louder like a normal person instead of being extremely quiet like he had been all year, "with the Shadows."

"No," Scorpius admitted quietly, "don't feel bad though, you really tried to stop him."

"I know and even though I failed... It was good to fight him, he destroyed my life and now Tony's not to mention what he had people do to us and poor Lorcan... I _want_ to fight, him and Specters, I don't want anyone else to go through that. That's my mission in life, that's my one goal. Its good to have something to focus on."

"Well its... a fine goal," Scorpius offered with a weak smile that Orous actually returned as he noticed the same muggle he'd seen hug Orous before come through the barrier, "we'll get him someday."

"Yeah. Have a good summer, I'll see you in September," Orous said waving bye as he ran to the muggle stepfather he called 'dad' to be pulled into a tight hug, Scorpius reluctantly trudged over to his own parents.

"Scorpius!" his mother greeted him happily but he didn't return the smile.

"Look this has to stop," his father began sternly before sighing when his mother shot him a dark look, "Scorpius, we're sorry, alright? Not for taking you to St Mungo's but we shouldn't have got the healers to knock you out to examine you, we should have waited for you to be comfortable with it, that was wrong and we're sorry. We were just worried about you, okay? We love you, son."

"I..." Scorpius started, sorry didn't magically make everything better but he supposed it was a start, at least they realized their mistake and they looked so genuine, he hugged his mother gently, "I love you too... Just please don't ever do that again."

* * *

"Are you sure you're ready for this, Sal?" Brutus questioned of her anxiously, now thankfully the Polyjuice Potion had worn off and she was herself again, very alive and not coma-y, "you only just got out of a year-long coma, you should be resting or something."

"I'm fine, Brutus, I've spent a year too long lying in bed doing nothing and we're behind with my plans," Sal insisted - not for the first time - defensively and turned back to him, taking his hands and he squeezed them gently as he gazed down into her dark eyes, grateful his plan had worked, she was alive and revived, Atticus and even his half-blood son had survived and those trapped in Hogwarts had also got out while the anti-apparation wards were down, "I'm not weak."

On that note he felt the sensation of Specter transportation overcome him and an instant later he was in the air above the target town, prevented from falling by the blue platform of light that Sal summoned so quickly that starting to fall was like stepping down. She let go of his hands and turned around, focusing on the task at hand, Brutus would rather have not been there but he was worried about her health and had asked to be there in case something went wrong so he could get her back to safety.

Sal raised her arms and summoned Specterally twelve balls of the magic taken from souls, some people in the town were starting to notice the two cloaked figures standing on a glowing square but it didn't matter. She gestured and balls dispersed, raining down on the populace below. He could hear the explosions and the screaming but refused to look as Sal manipulated the devastating force of raw power, he could see the shine of light from the magic even from keeping his eyes on the back of her head.

"I never said you were weak, just that I was worried," Brutus pointed out, weak was certainly not a word he would use to describe her, "I don't want to lose you."

Sal spun back round to face him, her expression softened as she cupped his face gently in her hands as she kissed him tenderly and he encircled his arms protectively around her. He managed to lose himself for a moment in her kiss and block out the chaos below before she pulled away, bursting his bubble.

"Its sweet that you worry and care but I do know my own strength," Sal promised him, "I love you."

She turned back to the scene to survey the damage of the city being decimated and destroyed by magic they hadn't even believed in until that down. A necessary sacrifice yes and they were only muggles, still he wanted the war to just be over already despite only having just begun. Brutus forced himself to peer down, it had been a thriving town when they'd arrived but it was unrecognizable then. It was a wasteland, all that remained were magical fires and ravaged ruins of buildings soon to be leveled, bodies and broken vehicles littered the ground. It almost didn't look real from up there, maybe if he couldn't smell the smoke then he could almost believe it wasn't. Sal leaned back against him and he wrapped his arms around her gently once more.

"I love you," Brutus whispered into her ear.

Sal moved her wrist and the Soul Eater symbol she'd designed shot into the sky, a fiery version of the skeletal snake symbol he also bore on his wrist that coiled into a random position with its head in the center, flicking out its forked tongue at whatever was left of the soon-to-be-dead people. The symbol would remain though for the Ministry to find, as would the blazing words that wrote themselves beneath it reading: _This is War_

* * *

**And that concludes Book II of Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Call of the Dark  
**

**By Sir Manayaz**

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**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Harry Potter, belongs to JK Rowling

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**Thanks to:**

Winged-panter1, Aya Diefair, Lucifersdaughter and SDF for reviewing, not just the last chapter but so many chapters throughout both books!

Everyone whose reviewed in other chapters too, anyone who has favorited, followed, read and enjoyed this story, well done for sticking my be for both books!**  
**

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**Questions:**

**Calderon would be a Black wouldn't he?  
**Calderon actually doesn't technically have a birth certificate or anything but in her obsessive love with Voldemort, Bellatrix gave the twins his last name of Riddle (regardless of Voldemort's feelings for his birth name). Lestrange was never their surname (and both Voldemort and Rodolphus would have been extremely offended if it was) but Calderon just lets Scorpius and Varanian assume it was rather than explain that Voldemort was his father because he's afraid they'd turn on him and hate him if they knew

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**Author's Note:**

So this is the end of Book 2, the first chapter of **_Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Werewolf Army_** will be written and uploaded on my 19th birthday on the 20th if anyone is going to carry on reading. People who like Calderon will be glad to know he's in the next book more than this one, there'll be electives and Hogsmeade, also Lily, Hugo, the Scamander twins and Abby's little brother will all be starting Hogwarts next book. I will add another chapter to say when its been uploaded like I did for the this book, I don't usually ask for reviews but again if you have any questions you want answered then ask them this chapter so I can answer next or hold them for III if you're going to read that


	66. III: Note

**_UPDATE!_**

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**_Author's Note:_**

_Book III in this series _**Gray: Scorpius Malfoy and the Werewolf Army**_ has just begun__  
_

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**_Book III Preview:_**

They never had a chance. Never even saw it coming, the Romanian Dragon Reserve was designed from against things getting out not to stop things getting in.

The reserve was an extremely large expanse of land that dwarfed the large buildings used by those who worked there, there was a large old mansion which contained the living quarters of the full-time employees as the nearest town was several miles away - although some worked part-time and traveled by Floo -which was where they ate, slept and relaxed.

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**_Thanks to:_**

_Winged-panther1, Aya Diefair, Lucifersdaughter and SDF for reviewing!  
_

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**_Questions:_**

_**Lots of Greyback coming up huh?**_

_Yes, I have said before that Greyback will be in III more and he will_

_**Will Jack me in it more?**_

_Yes_

_**Will we see more of Harry Potter in the next book, or is he not involved too much in the series?**_

_Yes you will also see more of Harry, obviously he's no longer the protagonist but he is Head Auror and involved and I think their interaction is interesting as well, they do have similarities that Harry can relate to but at the same time he's an adult now and things are different  
_


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